What to Know
- Tire Nichols, 29, was arrested in Memphis for allegedly reckless driving on January 7; police initially said a confrontation ensued, he ran and another confrontation occurred; he ended up in the hospital and died three days later. The condemnation of those who viewed the body camera footage has been universal.
- Nichols’s family accused police of beating him so hard that he suffered a heart attack and kidney failure; the five fired Memphis officers, all of them also black, involved in the case are charged with murder.
- Body camera footage of the beating was released on Friday, prompting police departments across the country to encourage officers to be careful and protect the right to peaceful protest.
NEW YORK — Protesters took to the streets of New York City — and the country — after the Memphis Police Department released body camera footage of officers repeatedly punching 29-year-old Tire Nichols during a stop of traffic in early January.
Two protests erupted in Manhattan immediately after the video was shared across the country, with groups gathering in Times Square and Union Square to show their outrage.
The groups marched through the streets before finally combining into a larger demonstration that numbered a couple hundred people in the center of the city. Chopper 4 was on the scene as crowds marched through the streets, either stopping traffic or moving between cars at different times.
(Fragments of the footage of Nichols’ arrest can be seen in the video below, which has been edited for time and profanity. Click here to see the full video released by police. Warning: shows graphic violence that could be disturbing).
The Memphis Police Department released the video on Friday. It includes footage from the police body camera and a surveillance camera on a pole.
Just before 9 p.m., a protester jumped on an NYPD vehicle and smashed its windshield at the rally near Times Square, a police captain told NBC News. Police invaded the scene and detained the person in handcuffs. The man was said to be bleeding from the wrist.
The police captain told NBC News he was one of three arrests that had been made as of 9 p.m. Another arrest was made for hitting a police officer, while the third was for an undisclosed reason, according to the officer. .
Police are also documenting any damage to other vehicles as protesters push through the cars. They also confiscated bicycles from protesters who were trying to prevent arrests.
Despite isolated incidents, the protests had generally been largely peaceful.
NYPD officers were seen monitoring alongside the protesters. There was no word of arrests as of 9 p.m.
New York’s commanders-in-chief at both the state and municipal levels, along with senior NYPD officials, said Friday in no uncertain terms that they support people’s right to protest in the wake of body camera footage. hitting the newly published Tire Nichols, which had been universally and emphatically condemned even before they came to light.
Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, asked about the possible protest at an unrelated subway safety briefing the previous Friday, claimed that the New York State Police and the NYPD had been briefed and strategically deployed, and were prepared to adapt as needed to any situation, which may evolve later on Friday or over the weekend.
Hochul urged people to heed the words of Nichols’ own mother, who called for peaceful action hours before the video was released on Friday.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Adams shared some rarer personal inflections in affirming the NYPD’s ability to protect protesters. She also echoed what Nichols’ mother and stepfather said.
“My message to New Yorkers is to respect the wishes of Mr. Nichols’ mother. If you need to express your anger and outrage, please do so peacefully,” she said.
The mayor said that New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, like her counterparts across the United States, had been strategizing with her top aides and the department throughout the day to ensure peaceful protests could continue. Adams said the department was “fully prepared to allow New Yorkers to peacefully voice their concerns.”
In a statement late Friday, Sewell said the department “will have an increased police presence in the coming days to ensure that those of their choice can express themselves freely and safely,” and again supported peaceful demonstrations.
“While we understand, appreciate, and share the high emotional toll of this tragedy, our Department will never tolerate violence, willful destruction, or any other crime,” the statement read. “Our responsibility is to protect the constitutional right to peacefully assemble and protest.”
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.
Body cameras captured a series of as yet publicly unknown events surrounding the beating. Nichols’s family saw him on Monday.
One of his lawyers, prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, said officers 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. Some who saw the video said it shows a shocking level of police brutality, but Nichols’ mother said she hasn’t seen any of the footage yet.
“I’ve never seen the video, but from what I’ve heard it’s very horrible. Very horrible,” said his mother, RowVaughn Wells.
Nichols, who was shocked, pepper-sprayed and contained, video shows, and heard his mother’s screams, 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.
Before Thursday, authorities had 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 wanted all five officers charged with first-degree murder, and Crump said the fact that they were the same race is irrelevant. He said he underscores the longstanding and general racial inequities surrounding traffic stops.
Despite their anguish and outrage, the family of Tire Nichols cooled down a bit Friday, praising Tennessee law enforcement for taking swift action to fire officers and secure a grand jury murder charge. for each of them. Nichols’ mother and stepfather urged Americans to remain at peace, even if the recordings of the Memphis traffic stops turn out to be as dire as predicted.
“We don’t want any kind of fuss. We don’t want any kind of disturbance. We want peaceful protests,” Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, said as he was flanked by civil rights leaders.
They said consequences for police officers accused of brutality have traditionally taken months, but in this case, the five officers accused of beating Nichols were fired and charged with murder in just three weeks. Crump said that should be “the model to follow.”
“He can no longer tell us that we had to wait from six months to a year, even though we have video evidence of excessive force,” the lawyer said.
Adams echoed what Nichols’ mother and stepfather said.
“My message to New Yorkers is to respect the wishes of Mr. Nichols’ mother. If you need to express your anger and outrage, please do so peacefully,” she said.
The city of Memphis has been nervous about releasing the police footage due to the possibility of riots, and officials at all levels of government have strongly denounced the allegations, and promised change, in recent days.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said the recordings will last about an hour, calling the video of the incident “horrifying, alarming, disappointing, sad.” Davis went on to describe the special “street crimes” unit involved in the traffic stop as “off the rails.”
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland released a contrite statement Thursday night, saying, “It is clear that these officers violated department policies and training. But we are doing everything we can to prevent this from happening again. We are initiating an external and independent review”. of the training, policies and operations of our specialized units”.
“Lastly, I am saddened and angry for the family of Tire Nichols. I am also angry for the many good men and women of the Memphis Police Department who dedicate their lives to serving our citizens,” he said. “We must all work to win back the public’s trust and work together to heal the wounds these events have caused.”
Lawyers for two of the accused ex-police officers urged the public to reserve judgment on their clients until they have their day in court.
Law enforcement departments are preparing for possible protests across the country. Police in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Washington, DC issued similar warnings to the New York Police Department on Friday.
The New York 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.
Carolina Ardila with the story.