What to Know
- Tyre Nichols, 29, was stopped in Memphis for alleged reckless driving on Jan. 7; police initially said a confrontation ensued, he ran and another confrontation happened; he ended up in the hospital and died three days later. Condemnation from those who saw the body cam footage has been universal
- Nichols’ family accused police of beating him so badly he suffered a heart attack and kidney failure; all five fired Memphis officers, all of them also Black, involved in the case are charged with murder
- Body camera footage of the beating is expected to be released Friday, leading police departments across the country to encourage officers to use caution and protect right to peaceful demonstration
The nation’s largest police force is advising its nearly 36,000 officers to be vigilant and support New Yorkers’ peaceful right to protest as the NYPD — and other departments across the country — prepare for potential protests in the wake of the anticipated release of body camera footage showing the beating that led to the death of a Black man in Tennessee.
Law enforcement and public officials, including those with the Memphis police department, who have seen the Tyre Nichols video have expressed appall across the board, a unified condemnation seemingly rife with what appears to be, at times, disbelief at the depravity of what they witnessed — an ominous portent of what the public later would see.
A day before the planned video drop, federal prosecutors charged all five now former Memphis police officers involved in Nichols’ case with murder and other crimes, perhaps another tacit acknowledgment of their concern the contents may incite extreme public reaction. All five of those officers, fired following an internal investigation this month, are Black as well. Mayor Eric Adams says that’s proven especially difficult for him to absorb personally and professionally.
“I advocated for years, during my time in 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement and as a civil rights activist … To see what is reported, that five Black officers are involved in this, really hurt me personally,” Adams said when asked about Nichols at an unrelated subway safety briefing Friday. “It was always my belief that diversifying our departments with different ethnic groups would allow us to have the level of policing that we all deserve.”
Adams said he will watch the footage after it is released, but based on the reports, “It appears these officers tarnish the work that many of us attempted to accomplish.”
As for potential protests, the mayor said NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, like her counterparts across America, had been strategizing with her top aides and the department to ensure peaceful demonstrations can proceed.
“They are fully prepared to allow New Yorkers to peacefully voice their concerns,” Adams said of the NYPD.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who attended the MTA briefing Friday alongside Adams, said New York State Police were at the ready as well. In the meantime, she asked everyone to heed the words Nichols’ mother uttered earlier in the day.
“On behalf of her family and his 4-year-old child, if you’re going to protest, please do so peacefully in her son’s memory,” Hochul said. “That’s something we all need to take to heart.”
Tyre Nichols Dies Days After Memphis Police Beating
Nichols, a 29-year-old father to a 4-year-old boy, died at a hospital three days after the Jan. 7 confrontation with police during a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee’s second-biggest city behind Nashville. The FedEx worker was pulled over for reckless driving minutes from his home, on his way back from taking sunset photos at a suburban park, that night.
In a preliminary statement a day later, police said “a confrontation occurred” as cops approached the car and Nichols ran. “Another confrontation occurred” when they caught up.
Body cameras captured an as-yet publicly unknown series of events around the beating. Nichols’ family saw it Monday.
One of their attorneys, noted civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, said cops beat him like a “human piñata” for three minutes. Crump likened Nichols’ arrest to the notorious 1991 beating of Rodney King at the hands of the Los Angeles Police Department, describing the encounter as “violent” and “troublesome on every level.”
Another family lawyer described the footage as “savage” and well outside the realm of what the offense warranted.
Nichols, who was shocked, pepper sprayed and restrained, the video shows, and heard crying out for his mother, was taken to a hospital after complaining of shortness of breath. Relatives accused the cops of delivering such a brutal beating that it caused Nichols to have a heart attack and his kidneys to fail.
Prior to Thursday, authorities had only said that Nichols experienced a medical emergency. The U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the case. Autopsy results have not been released.
Nichols’ family had wanted the five officers charged with first-degree murder — and Crump said the fact that they were the same race is irrelevant. He said it underscores overarching and longstanding racial inequities around traffic stops.
The city of Memphis has been on edge about the release of the police footage because of the possibility of unrest, and officials at all levels of government have forcefully denounced the allegations — and vowed changes — in recent days.
Memphis’ Mayor Jim Strickland issued a contrite statement Thursday night, saying, “It is clear that these officers violated the department’s policies and training. But we are doing everything we can to prevent this from happening again. We are initiating an outside, independent review of the training, policies, and operations of our specialized units.”
“Lastly, I am sad and angry for the family of Tyre Nichols. I am also angry for the many good men and women of the Memphis Police Department who devote their lives to serving our citizens,” he said. “We must all work to regain the public’s trust and work together to heal the wounds these events have caused.”
Law enforcement departments are preparing for potential protests across the country. Police in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., have issued similar advisories to the one from the NYPD Friday.
The NYPD has said, as it does in all cases involving potential demonstrations, that it will support the right to peaceful protest. Given the disturbing nature of the footage, though, and it is urging officers to use enhanced caution.
Violent protests erupted across the five boroughs in late spring 2020 following the death of George Floyd in police custody. More than 160 buildings were set ablaze. Police vehicles were torched. Molotov cocktails were thrown and stores looted. Misconduct allegations abounded during the days-long protests, which were exacerbated in part by out-of-state demonstrators bent on stoking further chaos and national division in the lead-up to the presidential election.
Dozens of people were arrested and more than 100 NYPD cops were ultimately cited for misconduct.
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