Tyre Nichols loved his family, photographing sunsets and skateboarding
Nichols, the youngest of four children, had a 4-year-old son. He was visiting his family in Memphis from his home in Sacramento, California, when the pandemic started, so he stayed put and got a job working the overnight shift for FedEx.
He was an amateur photographer who loved skateboarding and watching sunsets darken the woods and ponds of his adopted hometown. He enjoyed his mom’s sesame seed chicken and greeted her and his stepfather, Rodney Wells, when he got home with a hearty “Hello, parents!”
“Nobody’s perfect, OK, but he was damn near,” his mother, RowVaughn Wells, said at a news conference Monday.
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Rep. Steve Cohen says Nichols decries officers’ ‘appalling lack of humanity’
Rep. Steve Cohen, who represents Tennessee’s 9th congressional district including parts of Memphis, said the video of Tyre Nichols being beaten by police was “overwhelming to watch.”
“It’s clear that Tyre Nichols died because of the brutality and callous disregard, really an appalling lack of humanity, of the Memphis police officers,” he said in a statement on Twitter early Saturday.
“From the first encounter with the police, it’s clear this was about ego,” he added. “They were not there to serve and protect, or even to apprehend; they were there to punish and dominate.”
Cohen was shown the video privately on his return to Memphis from Washington, D.C., prior to its public release, the statement said.
Cohen said he found the charges against the officers appropriate, and condemned not only the officers directly involved, but those on the scene who failed to render aid, according to the body camera footage.
Police make multiple arrests at NYC protest
Police in New York City made at least three arrests at a protest near Times Square on Friday night, a police captain told NBC News.
One arrest was for damage to a police car, a second was for punching a police officer, while the third was for an undisclosed reason, according to the official.
“While we understand, appreciate, and share the high emotional charge of this tragedy, our Department will never tolerate violence, willful destruction, or any other criminality,” NYPD commissioner Keechant L. Sewell said in a statement late on Friday.
Memphis Police Association says it is ‘committed to the administration of justice’
Hours after video footage showing the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols was released on Friday, the Memphis Police Association posted a statement to its Facebook page.
The association offered condolences to Nichols’ family, and said that it was “committed to the administration of justice and NEVER condones the mistreatment of ANY citizen nor ANY abuse of power.”
“We have faith in the Criminal Justice System. That faith is what we will lean on in the coming days, weeks, and months to ensure the totality of circumstances is revealed” the statement added.
The statement did not name the accused officers, nor did it directly reference any specific charges. The Memphis Police Association represents more than 2,000 commissioned officers and retirees in the city, according to its website.
Los Angeles protesters gather outside police headquarters
Hours after authorities in Memphis released the video footage, groups of protesters began to gather outside LAPD headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.
The protest began with a candlelight vigil but escalated as police and protesters engaged in direct confrontation. Officers were seen wearing riot gear and lined up on the streets outside police headquarters, preparing to control the crowd.
Footage appeared to show a smoke bomb was thrown at an LAPD unit late Friday, causing police to disperse, though authorities said they were prepared to act in case more protests continued overnight.
Rev. Al Sharpton: ‘This video should be all a jury needs to convict’
Civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton released a statement on Twitter early Saturday, ahead of speaking at a New York rally condemning Nichols’ death.
“Nearly three years after the murder of George Floyd shook the world, here we are. This video should be all a jury needs to convict each of the five officers who relentlessly beat Tyre Nichols to death,” Sharpton said.
He added “the sad reality is that police brutality will be an ever-present threat for Black and Brown Americans unless cops continually see that those who use blunt force will go to jail.”
Sharpton, who will be delivering the eulogy at Nichols’ funeral on Wednesday, echoed the family’s pleas for non-violence and warned “the more you act up, the more these cops will use it as an excuse for their despicable actions.”
‘Everybody adored him,’ Nichols’ father says of his son
What we know about the 5 police officers charged with beating Tyre Nichols to death
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith were charged Thursday with second-degree murder, two counts of official misconduct, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of official oppression and one count of aggravated assault.
The officers had been on the job for between two and six years and some had participated in community anti-violence projects, prosecutors said.
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Harrowing videos show police fatally beat Tyre Nichols, who cries out for his mother
It took 26 minutes for a stretcher to appear at the spot where Tyre Nichols was slumped over on the ground after a Memphis police officer was first seen kicking him in the face.
That was according to one of the four videos authorities released Friday night capturing the brutal assault on 29-year-old Nichols, who was pulled over during a Jan. 7 traffic stop and was dead three days later.
The videos depicted Nichols being punched, struck with a baton, appearing to be kicked in the face, and sprayed with an irritant. They also captured him crying out for his mother and saying he was trying to go home.
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Source: NBC News
