“Heinous, reckless and inhuman,” is how Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis described the actions of five police officers in the beating death of Tyre Nichols.
After initially being fired from their positions with the Memphis Police Department, the five former officers of the law will now be charged with murder, among other charges.
“While each of the five individuals played a different role in the incident in question, the actions of all of them resulted in the death of Tyre Nichols, and they are all responsible,” Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith were all dismissed from the Memphis PD last week for excessive use of force, failing to intervene and failing to render aid to Nichols, 29, who was initially pulled over for reckless driving on January 7.
“There was an initial traffic stop — we won’t comment right now on the presence or absence of the legality of the stop, but there was a stop,” Mulroy said of the reason for Nichols being pulled over in the first place.
As far as the timeline of events, Mulroy said officers attempted to use pepper spray on Nichols, who then ran. After chasing him down, the five officers then allegedly beat Nichols severely.
“After some period of time waiting around,” Mulroy said an ambulance eventually arrived to attend to Nichols’s severe injuries.
Body camera footage of the altercation is expected to be released by the city of Memphis Friday.
“I’ve seen the video … you will too,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation head David Rausch told reporters. “In a word, it’s absolutely appalling.”
Nichols’s family has been vocal since seeing the footage Monday, saying Nichols was beaten like a human pinata. Nichols’s mother said police “murdered” her son.
Now a jury will decide whether that statement carries weight under the law. All five former officers have been charged with aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, official oppression and second-degree murder.
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