Tyre Deandre Nichols was a 29-year-old African-American who died on January 10, 2023, three days after five Memphis Police Department officers beat him during a traffic stop.
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The five Memphis officers are:
- Tadarrius Bean, age 24; hired in August 2020.
- Justin Smith, age 28; hired in March 2018.
- Demetrius Haley, age 30, a former corrections officer; hired in August 2020.
- Emmitt Martin III, age 30; hired in March 2018.
- Desmond Mills Jr., age 32, a former jailer in Mississippi and Tennessee; hired in March 2017.
Strangely, the officers involved in the brutal assault of Tyre Nichols are African American.
Nichols’ death has caused major outrage.
Why Did Tyre Nichols Get Stopped?
According to the Memphis Police Department, Nichols was stopped for reckless driving.
Nichols was stopped at approximately 8:24 p.m. on January 7, 2023, near the intersection of East Raines Road and Ross Road.
According to footage of the incident, officers pulled Nichols out of his car as he said: “I didn’t do anything.”
An officer shouted: “Get on the fuckin’ ground … I’m gonna tase your ass.”
Why Did Tyre Nichols Run?
At about 8:25 p.m., a struggle began between the officers and Nichols ensued.
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The Police officers attempted to pin Nichols to the ground, threatened him, yelled expletives, and used pepper spray and a taser on him.
Nichols managed to break free from the grasp of the police and ran south on Ross Road, where he was pursued by at least two officers.
Two more police units arrived at the scene of the traffic stop around 8:29 p.m.
Footage showed that one officer who remained at the area of the traffic stop said, “I hope they stomp his ass”.
The second encounter Nichols had with police occurred less than half a mile (800 meters) away from the traffic stop at 8:33 p.m. where he was beaten for about three minutes.
Body camera footage showed an officer shouting to Nichols: “I’m going to baton the fuck out of you.”
Footage from a pole-mounted surveillance camera showed:
- Officers striking Nichols at least nine times (“without visible provocation”, according to CNN) and
- Another officer using his leg to push Nichols hard to the ground.
The officers continued their assault on Nichols:
They pulled Nichols up by his shoulders and kicked him twice in the face, pulled him into a sitting position and struck his back with a baton, then brought him to a kneeling position and struck him again.
After that, officers pulled Nichols to a standing position and restrained his hands; during this time, Nichols was repeatedly punched in the face by officers, and eventually he fell to a kneeling position.
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