After watching the horrifying footage, the sheriff of Tennessee dismissed two cops and ordered a further inquiry into Tyre Nichols’ murder.
‘After seeing the recording for the first time tonight, I have concerns regarding two officers that came on the scene after the physical altercation between police and Tyre Nichols,’ Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. said in a statement.
To find out what happened and if any rules were broken, he said, “I have started an internal inquiry into the behavior of these deputies.” Both of these deputies have been placed on administrative leave awaiting the conclusion of this inquiry.
Street camera footage of the confrontation, which started over a traffic check, shows two unnamed police arriving at the scene after five others had already pummeled and pushed Nichols, 29, to the ground.
The wounded guy was surrounded by police officers who were seen knocking into each other as he lay on the ground twitching before an eighth officer and paramedics arrived.
The trio of policemen are shown striking Nichols with vicious kicks and sucker punches as he falls on the ground in the violent attack that was captured on police body camera and a street surveillance camera.
Three more cops arrive, and the group is seen watching as Nichol is left being hauled and pushed up to sit after they handcuff and pin him to the ground.
The cops do not attend to the wounded guy, who is unable to maintain his seat and writes and twitches instead, and two are seen fist-bumping each other near the hood of the patrol vehicle.
Another couple can be seen giving each other a fist bump in appreciation while continuing to ignore the writhing Nichols.
Antonio Romanucci, the family attorney for Nichols, told MSNBC that the two suspended cops may be charged criminally, much like the five others who were shown on video hitting the 29-year-old.
I won’t be at all shocked if further police officers face criminal prosecution, Romanucci added. ‘ Am I shocked that it’s taking so long?
I’ve been around long enough to have had to wait for charges to arrive for six months, a year to two years, or even never, so the fact that at least the administrator portion of it is arriving is encouraging.
I believe we are aware of what will happen next. They will also be investigated criminally, he said. “These policemen who failed to assist and did not step in — they should be investigated administratively and criminally,” the officer said.
Nichols was tased, kicked, and punched in the head, smacked three times with a metal baton, and twice had pepper spray poured into his face before he was killed in the violence, which Bonner has denounced.
In a statement, Bonner stated, “I am concerned by what we all witnessed documented on film. I am a second-generation law enforcement officer.” The badge that I, along with many other honorable cops, wear every day has been tainted by this horrific act.
“I will take all reasonable steps to ensure that no other parent has to bury their kid in such a stupid and awful manner.
My sincere sympathies go out to Tyre Nichols’ family and friends. I am saddened and incensed by his untimely death,” he said.
The footage, according to Nichols’ stepfather Rodney Wells and his lawyer, renowned civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, shows that additional first responders should be disciplined as the inquiry into Nichols’ murder proceeds.
While Crump was interrogated by a white cop who was there at the start of Nichols’ traffic stop, Wells urged for criminal charges to be brought against the paramedics who seemed to watch as his stepson was brutally abused.
After the footage was made public, Wells said to ABC News, “Everyone – the fire department, the paramedics who came out and stood around and didn’t do anything – they’re just as responsible.”
Everyone involved in the whole action and video should be held accountable, he said.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith are the five officers who have been dismissed and charged in connection with Nichols’ murder.
They are accused with aggravated abduction, government oppression, official misconduct, and second-degree murder.
Other officers are being looked at, according to Memphis Police Director Cerelyn Davis, for their involvement in the arrest.
The five cops’ acts, according to Davis, were “heinous, irresponsible, and brutal.”
As he is being beaten by several cops while being forced to the ground, Nichols cries out, “Mom! Mom.”
In the almost four-minute incident, the FedEx employee was struck at least nine times by police, who were also yelling foul language.
Officers repeatedly assert things about Nichols in the recordings that aren’t corroborated by the pictures or by what the prosecutor or other authorities have stated.
An officer alleges in one of the recordings that Nichols struggled for his pistol during the original traffic stop before escaping. Such an occurrence is not seen in the video.
Across the nation, police unions and agencies have strongly criticized the video.
In reaction to the video showing officers assaulting Nichols, the national head of the Fraternal Order of Police made a harsh remark.
The cops’ violent altercation with Nichols, according to Patrick Yoes, “does not represent legitimate police activity or a traffic stop gone awry.”
Yoes, though, described it as a “criminal attack under the guise of legality.”
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