Memphis police kicked and baton-charged 29-year-old Tyre Nichols and used Taser on him during a traffic stop on January 07, as confirmed by video footage from police body-worn cameras and a camera mounted on a utility pole released on Friday.
He was sent to the hospital in critical condition but he succumbed to his injuries and died three days later.
Five officers – Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III, Justin Smith and Tadarrius Bean – were dismissed from their posts and on Thursday, they were charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.
Nichols’s fatal beating is just the latest high-profile example of police brutality – it has recalled the 2020 killing of George Floyd, who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The video of the altercation that left Nichols dead also has drawn comparisons to the Rodney King beating video, which triggered days of riots in Los Angeles, California, that left dozens dead.
Needless to say, at the time of this post, protests have erupted across the country.
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