- Bernd Debussmann Jr
- BBC News-Washington
Policemen near a car
*This article contains a description that some may find disturbing.
It appeared from a video captured by a body camera, 29-year-old American Tire Nichols, while he was calling out to his mother while he was being beaten by policemen in Memphis.
Nichols died in hospital three days after his car was stopped for allegedly careless driving.
Nichols was pepper sprayed, kicked and punched by five policemen, who lost their jobs and were charged with his murder.
Four video footage captured by body cameras and electric poles in the area were revealed on Friday.
The BBC reviewed the footage, which is full of violence and obscenities.
The video footage was seen by a few people before Friday evening, including the Nichols family, their defense team and some officials.
Part 1: Police body cam showing a traffic stop.
The first video footage revealed shows the first stop to traffic that led to a confrontation between Nichols and the police that ended in his death. None of the released video footage shows a reason for the police to stop traffic.
A minute after Nichols was stopped, the police could be heard shouting obscene insults and threats, telling him to get out of the car.
“I didn’t do anything,” Nichols’ voice is heard saying.
Then the policemen throw him to the ground while he repeats that he is innocent. One of the policemen can be heard threatening to break his arms as they order him to lie on the ground on his stomach.
A scuffle ensues, and Nichols breaks free from the police and flees on his feet.
The police use pepper spray and a stun gun, but fail to stop him.
Nichols does not appear again in this part of the video, but rather shows the policemen using water to wash their eyes from the pepper spray.
The white, body-camcorded officer, who has not been indicted, can be heard saying he hopes his colleagues will trample Nichols when they find him.
Part Two: Footage from a pole-mounted camera in the street showing brutal beatings
The cops catch up with Nichols and knock him to the ground.
image copyright Reuters
Five policemen are facing murder charges
While two of them are working to stabilize him, a third is seen kicking him in the head twice.
Moments later, a fourth policeman takes out a baton and hits Nichols several times with it. The other cops punch him.
At this point he seemed groggy and offered no resistance.
At the fifth minute, Nichols is shown lying on the ground writhing, and the police do not deal him any blows.
Then they take him to one of the unmarked vans, and the policemen shine their battery lights on him and it doesn’t show if he’s moving.
Part Three: Footage from the body camera shows Nichols crying for his mother
This video captured by the policeman’s body camera recorded the same brutal assault from a different angle, accompanied by audio.
A minute into the video, two policemen can be seen grappling with Nichols. He threatens the policeman, who has a body camera fixed to him, with pepper spray.
shouts Nichols, crying out for his mother.
Shortly afterwards a new fight breaks out and the policemen ask Nichols to give them his hand.
The man with the camera on his body turns away, apparently hit by pepper spray.
Other policemen can be heard in the background shouting at Nichols, telling him to give them his hands and lie down motionless.
The policeman, who has the camera attached to his body, returns and takes out his baton, which we clearly saw in the second video from the camera mounted on the pole. He yells at Nichols, threatening to beat him with a club. Then he actually hits him several times, and another policeman can be seen punching Nichols in the face with his hands tied behind his back.
The cop with his body camera announces their location and the other cops can be seen grappling with Nichols as more cops arrive. A policeman is heard saying Nichols made him spray himself with pepper spray.
Another policeman replies that he insulted him using obscene language.
The video clip ends with the man holding the camera away, panting from exhaustion.
Part 4: Body camera footage showing Tyre Nichols bleeding
The fourth video comes from the body camera of an unarmed policeman. The same facts recorded by the third camera appear.
The shot begins with a short chase that ends with Nichols being overpowered by the cops.
It seems that the camera has been removed from the body of the policeman, as nothing can be seen for the first minutes, but the sounds of conversations can be heard.
Then we hear Nichols calling out to his mother as the cops use obscene insults as they order him to put his hands up.
At one point the cops can be heard saying that they thought Nichols was up to something, as they apparently thought he was using drugs. And there is no evidence for this.
After returning the camera to the body of the policeman, we can see Nichols more clearly as he is pushed towards an unmarked police car.
He looks injured, blood on his head, and he doesn’t speak. A policeman lifts him up after he collapsed on his side. He is then seen standing leaning against the car and then collapsing to the ground.
Much of the video depicts the policemen talking and giving details of the incident. Some cops claim that Nicklaus swerved toward them or tried to grab their gun. Video footage does not support these claims.
Later another policeman claims that Nichols nearly hit the police car. He hears the cops saying that they didn’t find anything in his car.
Near the end of the shot, we can clearly see Nicklaus badly injured and bleeding from his body.
He hears a policeman repeat the question, “What did you do?” indicating that he is believed to be under the influence of anesthesia.
Nichols didn’t seem able to answer.
“You can’t go anywhere,” the policeman repeats.
Standing nearby are about 10 people, none of whom offer to help Nichols, who clearly appears to be in a bad situation.
Part of the final minutes of the video is not clear or edited, and officials have said that some parts will be subject to editing in accordance with the Official Recordings Act.
