Memphis Tyre Nichols: Video footage to be released of driver’s death after five US police officers charged

It is a tragic case of alleged police brutality against a black man that has shocked a community becoming only too used to stories of violence within the force.

Five fired Memphis police officers have been charged with murder and other crimes over the death of driver Tyre Nichols, three days after the victim was pulled over for a traffic infringement.

Yet this differs in one major way from other similar cases of over-zealous physical force used against a black member of the US public – the officers themselves were also black.

“I was waiting for their faces to be on TV,” Carrie Louise Pinson, a 73-year-old resident and long-time activist, told The New York Times. “And when I saw all black policemen – how could you do this?”

People attend a candlelight vigil in memory of Tyre Nichols at the Tobey Skate Park in Memphis, Tennessee. 29-year-old Tyre Nichols died from his injuries three days after being severely beaten by five Memphis police officers on January 7.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said although the officers each played different roles in the death of Mr Nichols, "they are all responsible".

A grand jury returned indictments on Thursday against the five officers – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr and Justin Smith – with charges that include kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression, in addition to second-degree murder.

Video footage of the interaction with Mr Nichols, which has been described as “absolutely appalling” by the man behind the investigation into the incident, is due to be released late on Friday, US time. It is expected to consist of nearly an hour of footage taken from police body cameras and stationary cameras.

The victim's family and their lawyers said the footage showed officers savagely beating the 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes in an assault the legal team likened to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles driver Rodney King.

Mr Nichols was stopped on suspicion of reckless driving and was subsequently hospitalised and died three days later. The officers involved were fired from their jobs last week, while others are under investigation for violating department policy.

The family of Mr Nichols, however, urged supporters to protest peacefully. US president Joe Biden also urged calm. Protests and riots broke out two years ago following the death of Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man. Mr Floyd was murdered during an arrest after Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis Police Department officer, knelt on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes.

The family’s lawyers, Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, issued a statement saying Mr Nichols "lost his life in a particularly disgusting manner that points to the desperate need for change and reform to ensure this violence stops occurring during low-threat procedures, like in this case, a traffic stop".

David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which led the investigation, said he was “sickened” by what he witnessed in the footage.

“I’m shocked, I’m sickened by what I saw and what we learned through our investigation,” he said. “Let me be clear, what happened here does not reflect proper policing. This was wrong, this was criminal.”

President Biden said the Nichols family and the city of Memphis deserved "a swift, full and transparent investigation". “Public trust is the foundation of public safety, and there are still too many places in America today where the bonds of trust are frayed or broken," he said in a statement.