Hours of new footage of Tyre Nichols' beating released: What we know
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The City of Memphis on Tuesday released hours of additional footage of the night Tyre Nichols was brutally beaten by five now-former Memphis Police Department officers three days before he died in a hospital.
The records released Tuesday only included video footage and audio of police radio communications. While some of the newly released footage ― including from traffic, SkyCop and business security cameras ― sheds little light on why Nichols was stopped, the additional body camera footage and audio paint a fuller picture of the response by the police department and additional conversations between the officers after the beating.
Attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who are representing Nichols' family in a $550 million lawsuit against the city, the department and several individuals, said Tuesday they were reviewing the footage.
"As our legal team reviews the new bodycam videos of Tyre Nichols' horrific death at the hands of Memphis Police, we expect the videos to affirm what we have said from day one: that there was absolutely no justification for the officers' brutal and inhumane actions," the statement said.
Additional documents related to Nichols' beating, the department's internal investigation into the incident and the five ex-officers - Desmond Mills Jr., Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith - who have been charged in state and federal court will also be released.
"The City is continuing to review documents for compliance with court order and will begin releasing documents in 14 days," the city said on its website Tuesday.
New footage shows Memphis officer misleading Tyre Nichols' parents
Lt. Dewayne Smith, who was not criminally charged and resigned prior to a hearing to fire him, can be seen in Mills' body camera footage knocking on the door of RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, Nichols' parents. Smith’s administrative hearing file alleged he was misleading when speaking with Nichols’ parents, but Mills’ body camera footage provided more details as to how misled the parents.
"Are you familiar with a Tyre Nichols?" Smith asks Rodney Wells. Rodney Wells asks what he's been arrested for.
Smith pauses, then Mills says, "DUI," and Smith tells Rodney Wells that Nichols was being charged with a DUI.
"DUI?" RowVaughn Wells asks. "Why? What happened?"
"Well, he was intoxicated," Smith replied. He asks if Nichols had taken any narcotics because "he was on something other than alcohol" and they "couldn't get anything from him."
RowVaughn Well's answer could not be heard, but Smith responded with "no, it was something other than marijuana."
She then asks, "Where's he at?" and Smith tells her that Nichols is with paramedics and being treated "in the neighborhood," but doesn't give a specific location.
"Is he going to jail?" RowVaughn Wells asks.
"Yes ma'am, he's gonna go to jail after he gets some medical treatment," Smith told her.
Body camera footage shows some officers claim Nichols was fighting, others criticized special unit
Footage from an officer's body camera showed officers move Nichols from below a street sign, leaning him up against a car. Haley begins explaining what he saw to other officers who had just made the scene.
“He on something bad," Haley said after saying officers used a stun gun on Nichols. "We did him up, won’t stop. We did it again, won’t stop. I’m talking about finna take folks out in oncoming traffic and everything.”
While standing over Nichols, officers can be heard speculating that Nichols is “high as a kite,” before talking about the force they used on him.
“It was just a traffic stop,” one officer, who cannot be seen on camera, said before claiming Nichols was fighting.
A previously released video showed Nichols trying to speak with officers before one pulled him from the car and took him to the ground during that initial traffic stop.
In one of the clips an officer can be heard talking with another individual about concerns they have with the SCORPION Unit's tactics. At one point, the other person said "I feel like they're a little too..." before the officer jumped in and said, "hands on?"
Memphis police radio communications show confusion at the scene
The records release included about two hours of MPD radio communications. Throughout the conversation, there appears to be some confusion over where the scenes are. The first scene was where Nichols was originally pulled over. The second was where Nichols was beaten by officers.
Dispatch radio also points to confusion among officers and EMTs at the scene, with EMTs repeatedly asking if officers were bringing Nichols to the ambulance or if the ambulance was needed at the scene. Minutes later, an officer calls and requests EMTs come to the scene.
One officer radios in for “an ambulance” and an ambulance radios in to say they made the scene. Moments later, an officer says, “We have him in custody.”
More: What to expect in the 4 legal cases a year after Tyre Nichols' fatal police beating
The emergency medical technician asks for the officers to bring Nichols to them, but no officer responds.
“Does the fire department need to come to you or are you bringing him back down here?” the EMT says again.
“Bring them down here,” the officer responds, and the EMT says they are on their way to them.
After Nichols was taken to hospital, one officer called in to ask where Nichols was taken. He then asks for a “condition update.” That request stays open, with dispatch saying Nichols had not made it to the hospital yet.
What else we learned from the new video, audio
In the initial release of the compiled footage from the night of Jan. 7, 2023, the public learned the officers involved made several claims in the aftermath of the beating. Attorneys for the Nichols family have characterized these claims as the accused officers seeking to set up their defense preemptively.
Those claims ― that Nichols was high, that he endangered lives of drivers around him due to erratic driving, that he put his hands on one of the officers weapons, and that he exhibited superhuman strength due to intoxication ― were repeated in the newly released footage.
Nichols’ autopsy detected only low levels of alcohol and THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in his system.
The footage from Haley’s body camera showed the other four officers gathered, catching their breath, and nodding in agreement. Another officer claims that Nichols was hit with a stun gun, but took the prongs out and kept running after the initial stop.
This claim is contradicted by another officer, the officer who deployed his Taser on Nichols.
Throughout the body camera footage of all five officers present at the scene where Nichols lay dying, the tone shifts initially from claims of the danger Nichols posed to one of concern.
“He alright?” one officer asked.
A now-former Memphis Fire Department paramedic, Robert Long, is seen reaching toward Nichols on the ground multiple times.
“Nichols, Nichols,” another officer can be heard calling out.
Officers then start calling out to Nichols repeatedly, at one point one officer asks for Nichols' mother’s name. Another officer, in the background, suggests Nichols receive “a shot of naloxone,” a drug used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Many of the statements from the former officers who have been charged with killing Nichols and violating his civil rights were inconsistent with video of the incident and beating. One aspect that was consistent, however, was statements about hitting Nichols repeatedly.
What charges do the officers involved face?
Five of the officers involved in beating Nichols were criminally charged at the state and federal level. The state charges include second-degree murder and aggravated assault charges, and the federal case charges the officers with violating Nichols' civil rights and obstruction of justice.
In November, Mills pleaded guilty to excessive force and conspiracy to witness tamper in federal court and in state court he pleaded guilty to the charges related to Nichols' death. He has not yet been sentenced.
More: How Tyre Nichols' parents stood strong in their publicized grief, focused on son's life
"My use of force was excessive and I gave misleading statements," Mills told Judge Mark Norris, who is overseeing the federal criminal case.
Personnel files obtained through a public records request, and reviewed by The Commercial Appeal, showed four of the five criminally charged officers had been reprimanded before Nichols was beaten, and faced few consequences, if any, as they made forceful arrests with no documentation and drove recklessly to scenes.
Only Tadarrius Bean had no prior reprimands.
Preston Hemphill, who was also fired from the department but will not face criminal charges, also received prior reprimands.
Dewayne Smith, who oversaw the SCORPION Unit team that Hemphill and the five criminally charged officers were part of, also had prior reprimands. Smith also had a case he investigated dismissed after a federal judge found he illegally searched a man's car.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: New Tyre Nichols video released: What we learned from hours of footage
