What to Know
- The nation’s largest police force is advising its nearly 36,000 officers to stay alert on the job for the next few days as the NYPD, and other police departments across the country, brace for a possible wave of anti-brutality protests. police following the release of jarring body camera footage showing the beating that led to the death of an African-American man in Tennessee expected to be made public this Friday.
- Tire Nichols, a 29-year-old father of a 4-year-old boy, died at a hospital three days after the confrontation with police on January 7 during a traffic stop in Memphis.
- Five Memphis police officers involved in Nichols’ arrest, all black, were fired after an internal investigation found they used excessive force and failed to intervene or render assistance. They also face various charges, including second-degree murder.
NEW YORK — The nation’s largest police force is advising its nearly 36,000 officers to stay alert on the job for the next few days as the NYPD, and other police departments across the country, brace for a possible wave of protests against police brutality following the release of jarring body camera footage showing the beating that led to the death of an African-American man in Tennessee expected to be made public this Friday.
Law enforcement and public officials, including those from the Memphis Police Department, who saw the Tire Nichols video expressed dismay across the board, a unified condemnation seemingly plagued by what appears to be, at times, disbelief in the depravity. of what they witnessed — an ominous foreshadowing of what the public would see later.
“I advocated for years, during my time at 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement and as a civil rights activist… Seeing what’s being reported, that five African-American officers are involved in this, it really hurt me personally,” Adams said when asked about of Nichols at an unrelated subway safety briefing on Friday. “I always believed that diversifying our departments with different ethnic groups would allow us to have the level of surveillance that we all deserve.”
Tire Nichols, a 29-year-old father of a 4-year-old boy, died at a hospital three days after the confrontation with police on January 7 during a traffic stop in Memphis. The FedEx worker was pulled over for reckless driving minutes from his home as he was returning from taking sunset photos in a suburban park that evening. In a statement a day later, police said “a confrontation occurred” as officers approached the car and Nichols ran. Another “happened” when they got to it.
A day before the planned video release, federal prosecutors charged the five now-former Memphis police officers involved in the Nichols case with murder and other crimes, perhaps another tacit acknowledgment of their concern that the content could incite a public backlash. extreme.
The five police officers were charged Thursday with second-degree murder and other crimes in the arrest and death of Nichols, records showed.
The five officers, fired after an internal investigation this month, are also black. Mayor Eric Adams says it has been especially difficult for him to absorb it personally and professionally.
Shelby County Sheriff’s Office online records show Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith were in custody. All five are charged with second degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.
Defense attorney William Massey confirmed to The Associated Press that his client, Emmitt Martin III, had been charged and turned himself in.
It was not immediately clear if Smith had an attorney to speak on his behalf about the charges. Blake Ballin, Mills’ attorney, said he planned to hold a news conference later Thursday.
Second degree murder is a class A felony punishable by 15 to 60 years in prison under Tennessee law.
Adams said he’ll see the images after they’re released, but reportedly “it seems like these officers are tarnishing the job that many of us are trying to accomplish.”
As for potential protests, the mayor said NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, like her counterparts across the United States, had been strategizing with her top aides and the department to ensure that peaceful protests they could continue.
“They are fully prepared to allow New Yorkers to peacefully voice their concerns,” Adams said of the NYPD.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who attended the MTA briefing Friday along with Adams, said the New York State Police were ready as well. Meanwhile, she asked everyone to pay attention to the words that Nichols’ mother spoke earlier in the day.
“On behalf of his family and his 4-year-old son, if you are going to protest, please do so peacefully in memory of your son,” Hochul said. “That’s something we all need to take seriously.”
Video footage of the arrest has not been made public, but officials have promised to release it this Friday.
Body cameras captured the series of events leading up to the beating, though no parts had been released to the public so far.
However, Nichols’s family saw him earlier in the week.
One of his lawyers, prominent civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, said the cops beat him like a “human piñata” for three minutes. Crump compared Nichols’ arrest to the notorious 1991 beating of Rodney King by the Los Angeles Police Department, describing the encounter as “violent” and “problematic on every level.”
Another lawyer for the family described the images as “wild” and outside the scope of what justified the crime.
Nichols, who was electrocuted, pepper-sprayed and restrained, video shows, and heard screaming for his mother, was taken to a hospital after complaining of difficulty breathing. Family members accused police officers of beating him so brutally that it caused Nichols to have a heart attack and his kidneys to fail.
Authorities have only said that Nichols experienced a medical emergency. The US Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into the case. The results of the autopsy have not been published.
Nichols’ family wants all five officers charged with first-degree murder, and Crump said the fact they were the same race is irrelevant. He said he underscores the general and long-standing racial inequities surrounding traffic stops.
The city of Memphis has been nervous about the release of the mugshots due to the possibility of riots. Nichols’ stepfather, Rodney Wells, called for the protests to be peaceful, saying the violence “is not what Tire wanted and it won’t bring him back.”
The New York City Police Department has said, as it does in all cases involving potential protests, that it will support the right to peaceful protest. However, given the disturbing nature of the images, officers are urged to exercise extra caution.
Violent protests broke out across all five boroughs in late spring 2020 following the death of George Floyd in police custody. More than 160 buildings were set on fire. Police vehicles were set on fire. Molotov cocktails were thrown and shops were looted. Allegations of misconduct abounded during days of protests, which were exacerbated in part by protesters from other states bent on stoking more chaos and national division in the run-up to the presidential election.
Dozens of people were arrested and more than 100 NYPD officers were ultimately cited for misconduct.
