US Attorney says Tyre Nichols investigation will be 'through the video of a confrontation between Tyre Nichols and five Black Memphis police officers – which ultimately led to Nichols’ death three days later – will be released Friday evening, Shelby County, Tenn., District Attorney Steve Mulroy said during a Thursday afternoon press conference.
"We all want the same thing. We want justice for Tyre Nichols," Mulroy said. "It’s my hope that if there is any silver lining to be drawn from this very dark cloud, it’s that perhaps this incident can open a broader conversation about the need for police reform."
The press conference came after the now-former Memphis police were charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in the arrest and death of Nichols, a Black motorist who died three days after a confrontation with the officers during a traffic stop.
Mulroy said a grand jury has returned indictments against Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, Jr., Emmitt Martin III, and Justin Smith. Each has been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping resulting in bodily injury, aggravated kidnapping involving the possession of a weapon, official misconduct through the unauthorized exercise of power official misconduct through failure to act when there is a duty imposed by law, and official oppression.
TYRE NICHOLS CASE: 5 FORMER MEMPHIS POLICE OFFICERS CHARGED WITH SECOND-DEGREE MURDER
"While each of these five individuals played a different role in the incident in question, the actions of all of [the officers] resulted in the death of Tyree Nichols, and all were responsible," Mulroy said.
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Attorneys for Martin and Mills were expected to hold press conferences later Thursday.
Video footage of the arrest has already been shown to Nichols' family.
Ben Crump, the attorney representing Nichols' family, said the video that the family viewed showed Nichols — a 29-year-old FedEx worker and father — was shocked, pepper-sprayed, and restrained when he was pulled over for a traffic stop near his home. He was returning home from a suburban park, where he had taken photos of the sunset. The legal team said officers beat Nichols for three minutes in a "savage" encounter reminiscent of the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.
Relatives have accused the police of causing Nichols to have a heart attack and kidney failure. Authorities have only said Nichols experienced a medical emergency.
The unit focuses on preventing auto theft and gang-related violence and was structured to have some coordination with the Multi-Agency Gang Unit. Davis has also announced an independent review of all of the department's specialized units.
"We're not investigating nothing, we're disbanding it," Sherman said. "We're disbanding the OCU, we're disbanding the MCU, y'all are murdering people. Y'all are pulling up on people buying pizzas with guns to their heads, trying to go home. Tyre was just trying to go home. That man was just trying to go home, he just wanted to get food for himself. We can't even feed ourselves and y'all murdering us. We're not doing it no more."
In addition to advocating for a city ordinance set to be introduced by Councilman JB Smiley in the Memphis City Council's Feb. 7 meeting that would require Memphis Police officers to report consistent and detailed reports on traffic stops, along with use-of-force complaints, Sherman asked that people show up in the coming days.
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