Haven Orecchio, Insider
- Memphis police released footage of five officers beating Tyre Nichols, who died three days later.
- Protesters gathered in Memphis on Friday evening, chanting “no justice, no peace.”
- Content note: This story describes police brutality and death and contains graphic videos.
MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Speaking from the driver’s seat of an 18-wheeler trying to merge onto I-55, truck driver Mark told insider he was running out of fuel.
He didn’t know that he’d run into the protest. If he did, he said, he would have left later.
A Black man, he said he doesn’t fault the protestors and would “possibly” be out with them if he was from here. He’s on his way to Oklahoma with 1,400 miles left.
“It could have been me,” he told Insider. “It’s not the first and it won’t be the last.”
Adrian Sainz/AP Photo
MEMPHIS, Tennessee — The Memphis Police Department released disturbing footage Friday evening showing the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols, with Memphis and other major US cities bracing for protests and civil unrest.
The violent footage, from police body cameras and stationary cameras, was released on the department’s Vimeo page.
“You guys are really doing a lot right now,” Nichols is heard saying to the officers at the start of the videos, which were released in four parts. “I’m just trying to go home.”
The beating occurred during a traffic stop in Memphis’ Hickory Hill neighborhood on January 7. Nichols, who was 29, died of his injuries three days later. Authorities said Nichols had been stopped by the officers and accused of reckless driving, but Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn J. Davis has since said the department has not found proof to substantiate the reckless driving allegation.
Memphis officials and others with access to the video had warned the public of the gruesome nature of the footage in advance of its release on Friday.
Haven Orecchio, Insider
MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Protesters gathered at Martyrs Park in Memphis, Tennessee, around 6 p.m. local time on Friday evening as the city braced for the release of graphic body camera footage that shows several police officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols.
Demonstrators said they didn’t need to wait for the video — they already knew Nichols’ death was murder.
Five officers have been charged with second-degree murder.
Approximately hundreds of protesters blocked a long line of 18-wheelers on Old Bridge, chanting “You take our lives, we’ll take your money” and “no justice, no peace.
Sherri, a Memphis native, told Insider her 28-year-old Black son moved to Germany, and she’s glad he’s out of the country and away from cops in Memphis. She said she was pulled over on Thursday night and was nervous.
When an officer asked her why she was anxious, she responded: “Not all interactions end this way.”
