Yahoo News Footage of Fatal Tyre Nichols Traffic Stop to Be Released Friday
Footage from the fatal attempted arrest of Tyre Nichols on January 7 in Memphis, Tennessee, was due to be released “sometime Friday after 6pm”, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said.
In a statement on the City of Memphis Facebook page, Strickland said: “We wanted to ensure the proper legal steps were followed and that the family of Mr Nichols had the opportunity to view the video footage privately before we released it to the public. In light of those matters occurring, we will be releasing the video to the public sometime Friday after 6pm.”
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said on Thursday that five former Memphis Police officers had been charged with seven counts each including second-degree murder and aggravated assault. The former officers were named as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr, and Justin Smith.
Tyre Nichols died on January 10 after being hospitalized in Memphis with critical injuries following an attempted arrest after a traffic stop on January 7.
US President Joe Biden released a statement on Thursday, urging “peaceful protest” upon the release of the footage. Credit: City of Memphis via Storyful
Video transcript
JIM STRICKLAND: Since learning of this tragic event, transparency and swift methodical action have been our top priorities, because the family of Mr. Nichols and our citizens deserve nothing less. The actions of these officers were awful, and no one, including law enforcement, is above the law. I assure you we will do everything we can to keep this type of heinous act from happening again.
In this case, I want to thank Chief Davis and her team for moving quickly with the administrative procedure resulting in termination, and District Attorney Mulroy for taking deliberate actions in bringing these indictments forward. We have worked to get a resolution to these matters in record time because we take them extremely seriously. As we have said all along, we wanted to ensure the proper legal steps were followed and that the family of Mr. Nichols had an opportunity to view the video footage privately before we released it to the public.
In light of those matters occurring, we will be releasing the video to the public sometime Friday tomorrow after 6:00 PM. It is clear that these officers violated the department's policies and training, but we are doing everything we can to prevent this from happening again. So we are initiating an outside independent review of the training policies and operations of our specialized units.
Lastly, I am sad and angry for the family of Tyre Nichols. I am also angry for the many good men and women of the Memphis Police Department who devote their lives to serving our citizens. We must all work to regain the public's trust, and work together to heal the wounds these events have caused.
