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On Friday evening, Memphis officials released video footage of the arrest of Nichols, a 29-year-old black man who died three days after he was severely beaten during a traffic stop.
The young man’s death caused deep pain in the Nichols family, and caused a citywide scandal.
Five Memphis police officers involved in the stoppage were fired last week and now face murder charges.
The city released body camera footage of the ordeal at 7 p.m. ET on Friday. The video showed the officers pulling Nichols from his car and shooting him before he fled the scene on foot.
Here’s what we know about Traffic Stopping Where Things Began:
Why did Nichols stop?
The Memphis Police Department initially said that Nichols was pulled over around 8:30 pm local time for “reckless driving”.
“When the officers approached the driver of the vehicle, a confrontation occurred, and the suspect fled the scene on foot,” police said at the time. “The officers pursued the suspect and again tried to detain him. Another confrontation took place while trying to detain the suspect. However, the suspect was eventually arrested.”
The police leadership later retracted those allegations.
“I’m going to be honest with you about the station itself. What was said was a witness to what was considered reckless driving,” Chief of Police Cerelyn Davis told CNN on Friday. “We looked at the cameras. We’ve looked at body-worn cameras. Even if something happened before this stop, we wouldn’t be able to prove it.”
She added: “We took a comprehensive look to determine the possible cause and could not prove it.” “It doesn’t mean that something didn’t happen, but there is no evidence.”
The Nichols family also disputes the police version of events.
“We don’t know anything other than what we saw in the video,” Ben Crump, the lawyer for the Nichols family, said Friday during a press conference.
“They say he was driving recklessly. We have to see him. We certainly can’t take their word for it.”
What we do know is that after the stoppage began, the police and Nichols engaged in some sort of physical altercation, and at some point Nichols fled the police.
A police audio message obtained by Fox captures 13 officers saying, “We’ve got a black man running,” while another tape obtained by CBS News records another police official, “He’s fighting at this time.”
Finally, according to the MPD, two different altercations between Nichols and the officers occurred over the course of the station, the latter of which was located just blocks from Nichols’ home.
After stopping, Nichols was taken to the hospital and photographed with severe bruises and cuts.
He eventually died on January 10th.
An external autopsy showed that his body had suffered “extreme bleeding”.
Attorneys for the Nichols family say a police videotape shows the officers severely beating Tire.
“It was a human piñata for these police officers,” lawyer Antonio Romanucci said of the video.
“(It’s) appalling. It’s unfortunate. It’s outrageous,” said Mr. Crump, another lawyer for the family.
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Sources 2/ https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmluZGVwZW5kZW50LmNvLnVrL25ld3Mvd29ybGQvYW1lcmljYXMvY3JpbWUvdHlyZS1uaWNob2xzLXZpZGVvLWFtZXJpY2FuLXBvbGljZS1raWxsLW1hbi1iMjI3MTY2MS5odG1s0gF1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW5kZXBlbmRlbnQuY28udWsvbmV3cy93b3JsZC9hbWVyaWNhcy9jcmltZS90eXJlLW5pY2hvbHMtdmlkZW8tYW1lcmljYW4tcG9saWNlLWtpbGwtbWFuLWIyMjcxNjYxLmh0bWw_YW1w?oc=5 The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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