Photo: City of Memphis / Courtesy
The five Memphis police officers accused of senselessly beating 29-year-old Tire Nichols during a traffic stop pepper-sprayed themselves during the arrest, disturbing footage of the incident shows.
The Police pulled over Nichols for alleged reckless driving at an intersection on January 7 with his guns drawn and demanded he get out of the car, as shown by body camera video of the incident.
You they shouted insult-laced orders at the confused motorist and tried to handcuff him after they forced him to the ground.
In the first of two altercations, Nichols breaks free when the officers pepper spray and fire Tasers, but runs down the street where police would later locate him and beat him again.
“I can’t see sh*t,” an officer says in body camera footage after unsuccessfully pursuing Nichols. He and his partner are out of breath and coughing from the pepper spray as they return to the intersection. An officer said he lost his glasses.
The policeman takes a bottle of water and rinses his partner’s eyes several times.
“Why did I spray myself?” he asked his partner.
“Hey, you sprayed me too, but you just hit me in the eyebrow,” he replies with a giggle.
“I hope he gets stomped on his ass,” he added of Nichols.
When the police finally caught up with Nichols, they pepper-sprayed him again and severely beat him with a baton. After Nichols is handcuffed, one officer tells several others “we’re all doused.”
Nichols was sprayed again after he was struck during a second altercation with police as he fled the traffic stop.
Nichols, a young father and FedEx employee, died three days later at the hospital. His official cause of death has not been released.
Five African-American officers, identified as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr. and Justin Smith, were charged with Nichols’ murder and turned over to law enforcement Thursday.
They are charged with aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression in addition to second-degree murder.
The five were released from the Shelby County jail Friday morning after each posted $250,000 to $350,000 bail.