Tyre Nichols Death: Timeline of investigation, Memphis police body cam footage & family reaction

Tyre Nichols, 29, Black man was hospitalised following his arrest on January 7 and succumbed to his injuries three days later, according to the police. Five Black policemen from the Memphis Police Department were dismissed and are now being investigated by the law. Here is the timeline of investigation into Tyre Nichols' death.According to a statement from Memphis police, on January 7 at around 8:30 pm, officers pulled over a car.Why was Tyre Nichols pulled over by Memphis police? Police officers pulled over the car for alleged reckless driving. Officers and the driver of the car, subsequently identified as Nichols, confronted each other. Nicholsthen fled on foot. After being stopped by police, another confrontationled to Nichols' arrest.

After Nichols complained of having trouble breathing, police claimed an ambulance was sent to the scene of the arrest. He was then taken in serious condition to a hospital close by. According to a statement, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) revealed Nichols had passed away on January 10, three days after the stop, as a result of injuries received in the "use-of-force incident with officers."

The implicated officers were removed fromduty in accordance with routine departmental practise, and an investigation into their use of force got under way, according to Memphis police. Additionally recruited to conduct an investigation were the TBI and the Shelby County District Attorney's Office.

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According to authorities, preliminary results showed how seriously the cops behaved during the stop. In a statement issued on 15January, Chief Davis said, after analysing different sources of information pertaining to theoccurrence, he hasdecided that it is important to take prompt and proper action.“Today, the department is serving notice to the officers involved of the impending administrative actions," he added.

Before dismissing government civil servant staff, the agency was supposed to follow a prescribed procedural process, the statement continued. Ben Crump, the family's attorney, has expressed the family's request for the release of body camera and surveillance footage of the traffic stop in the days following Nichols' death. “This kind of in-custody death destroys community trust if agencies are not swiftly transparent,” Crump said in a statement.

The Department of Justice on 18 January announced that a civil rights inquiry into Nichols' death had been launched. Five of the officers involved in the traffic stop were identified and dismissed by Memphis police as a result of their violations of many departmental rules following an internal inquiry. According to a statement from the department, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr., and Justin Smith were terminatedfor violating their “excessive use of force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid."

The dismissal of the five cops, according to Nichols family attorneys Crump and Antonio Romanucci, is the first step towards getting justice for Tyre and his family.

Video of Tyre Nichols beating

Nichols' family and attorneys revealed their anguish at what they witnessed in the unreleased police footage of the arrest after meeting with officials to see it. He was never able to defend himself andserved as the police officers' human piata, Romanucci said.The attorney said that theyoungster was beaten for three minutes in total, without restraint. According to Romanucci, the footagewas violentas well as savage. Family attorney Crump termed it appalling, deplorable and heinous. Tyre Nichols died aftera violent police confrontationthat was captured on police body cameras and surveillance footage by the city of Memphis. Three body camera films and an aerial view are included in the video, which spans a little more than an hour and depicts Tyre Nichols' fatal encounter with police.

Family reaction

Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, said Monday, “What I saw on the video today was horrific." “No father, mother should have to witness what I saw today.”
Wells said that after hearing Nichols ask "What did I do?" his mother, RowVaughn Wells, was unable to watch the video. According to the lawyer, Nichols can be heard asking for his mother three times at the end of the video.

Tyre Nichols Autopsy

Preliminary results of an autopsy shows that Tyre Nichols suffered “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating.” However, the full report is yet to get ready.

According to Shelby County criminal court and Shelby County jail records, Martin III, Smith, Bean, Haley, and Mills, Jr. were all charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct, and one count of official oppression. Four of the five ex-officers were released on bond by early Friday morning, according to jail records. All five reported to the Shelby County Jail on Thursday.

Who was Tyre Nichols?

A 29-year-old black man, Tyre Nichols was the father of a 4 years old son. Nichols grew up in Sacramento, California, then in 2020 he relocated to Memphis, Tennessee.

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