Video footage of Tyre Nichols’ death was viewed by his family and will be released to the public soon.
Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was hospitalized and died three days after Memphis police pulled him over in a traffic stop and used force to arrest him on January 7.
An official cause of death has yet to be released, but footage of the gruesome beating tells it all.
Nichols’s family reviewed the body cam footage and noticed that during the incident, Nichols could be heard calling out for his mother while being beaten. The eerie similarity was uncanny to George Floyd’s death by former cop Derek Chauvin, who also called out for his mom.
Nichols’s mother, Ravaughn Wells, told ABC News, “Once the video started and I heard my son’s voice, I lost it. I couldn’t stay in the room. All I heard him say was, what did I do? And once I heard that I lost it.”
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At a press conference in Memphis, The family appeared to discuss the tragic incident.
Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, said, “Our son ran because he was scared for his life. He did not run because he was trying to get rid of no drugs, no guns, no any of that. He ran because he was scared for his life. And when you see the video, you will see why he was scared for his life.”
The family’s attorney, Ben Crump, compared the footage to Rodney King’s video from 1991 when Los Angeles Police brutally beat him.
The video has yet to be released or viewed publicly, but Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn Davis released a message regarding Nichols’ death.
You can watch the video below:
As previously reported by Newsonyx, the five Memphis police officers responsible for the aggressive arrest have been fired in connection to the death of Nichols.
In a statement made by the chief of Memphis police, the department found that the five officers – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith – were responsible in some capacity for the tragedy. The report stated that they violated policies “including excessive use of force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid.”
