The city of Memphis, Tenn., is bracing for the release of video footage expected to show police officers beating Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died after a traffic stop earlier this month.
The video is expected to be released by authorities after 7 p.m. Memphis officials are releasing the video at the time so that people see it after students are home from school and people are back from work.
The five now former Memphis Police officers involved in the incident were charged with second-degree murder and other offenses on Thursday. All five men, who are all Black, were fired from the department.
Official after official at the federal, state and local level have described the video footage as horrific and appalling, with some officials comparing it to the Rodney King video from 1991, when grainy footage showed the African American man being beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis on Friday said that the video of the incident in her city is “about the same, if not worse” than the 1991 King footage.
She said police decided to release the video on a Friday evening instead of during the workweek so any potential protests would not be as disruptive to people in school or at work.
Nichols’s family and their attorneys viewed the video of the incident earlier this week. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, said after seeing the footage that it shows Nichols shocked, pepper-sprayed and restrained after he was pulled over.
Crump and fellow attorney Antonio Romanucci said Nichols was treated like a “human piñata” and also compared the incident to the King beating.
Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving on Jan. 7, and he died three days later from wounds sustained during what the department initially called a “confrontation” with the five officers on the scene. It later was revealed that Nichols was beaten for three minutes by police officers.
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy confirmed video footage includes police body camera footage and possibly cellphone video and home video surveillance.
Audio of the dispatch recording was released on CNN on Thursday.
“We got one male. He’s running,” says one officer. Another says to run the license plates to find out the address of the owner.
Sounds of distress can be heard before the dispatcher says, “He’s fighting at this time.”
Concern over what could happen once the footage is released is, in part, in response to the civil unrest the country saw in 2020 after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police officers. While much of that unrest was peaceful protest, there was also widespread looting, burning of buildings and rioting.
“Burning down your own community will not solve this problem,” Van Turner, Memphis NAACP president, cautioned the community this week. “What will solve this problem is supporting this family, supporting the effort to bring these individuals to justice and supporting the effort to better train our officers and better train them to interact with this community appropriately going forward.”
In a video released Thursday, Davis called the beating “heinous, reckless and inhumane.” While she said she expects citizens to protest and demand action for results, she warned against any violence and community destruction.
“I expect our citizens to exercise their First Amendment right to protest, to demand action and results,” Davis said. “But we need to ensure our community is safe in this process. None of this is a calling card for inciting violence or destruction on our community or against our citizens.”
Around the country, other major cities are preparing for Friday’s video release as well.
In Washington D.C., the Metropolitan Police Department has fully activated all sworn personnel ahead of possible protests.
“We will not tolerate any unlawful behavior during First Amendment demonstrations and we will take swift law enforcement action should anyone break the law,” the department said in a statement to WTOP.
The Philadelphia Police Department is also closely monitoring the situation, the department said in a statement to The Hill.
“In the event of any First Amendment related activity, the PPD is working with our stakeholders to ensure that we have ample staffing on hand in order to provide for the safety and First Amendment rights of demonstrators, residents, and visitors,” the statement said.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said he expected it would be a “painful and distressing time” for many city residents given accounts of the video.
“We believe that protests are an understandable response, and we are expecting and planning to support First Amendment activity here in Philadelphia. We encourage our residents to speak out, stay safe, and show care for one another during this difficult time,” Kenney said.
Meanwhile in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp has already declared a state of emergency and called up 1,000 National Guardsmen after protests of another police-involved killing in Atlanta turned violent.
President Joe Biden called for peaceful protest in a statement on Thursday.
“As Americans grieve, the Department of Justice conducts its investigation, and state authorities continue their work, I join Tyre’s family in calling for peaceful protest,” Biden said. “Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable. Violence is destructive and against the law. It has no place in peaceful protests seeking justice.”
So far, it is unclear how a traffic stop escalated into violence that left Nichols feeling short of breath and eventually dead, but video footage could help determine why officers reacted violently.
Romanucci said the video shows Nichols being pepper-sprayed, shocked with a stun gun and restrained.
“It was an unadulterated, unabashed nonstop beating of this young boy for three minutes,” he said.
Ahead of Friday’s video release, the NAACP has issued a call to action to Congress.
“By failing to write a piece of legislation, you’re writing another obituary,” Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement Thursday. “Tell us what you’re going to do to honor Tyre Nichols. Tell us what you’re going to do to show his family, his loving son, and this entire nation, that his life was not lost in vain. We can name all the victims of police violence, but we can’t name a single law you have passed to address it.”
This story was updated at 1:37 p.m.