Local and federal police are looking into the bodycam videos where the five ex-cops unleashed 71 orders to Tyre Nichols that were often contradictory in nature, or shouted simultaneously, or were impossible for Nichols to perform.
While the 29-year-old Nichols was screaming for his mother, The New York Times reports that they shouted dozens and dozens of commands at Nichols within a 13-minute time frame — all while beating and kicking him mercilessly.
Memphis police officers unleashed at least 71 commands at Tyre Nichols. Many were contradictory or impossible. When he couldn’t comply — and even when he managed to — officers responded with escalating force.
See the New York Times visual investigation. https://t.co/pHhxeolvZr
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 30, 2023
Additionally, the newspaper reports that the officers became more violent as time transpired — even when Nichols managed to comply.
The Times reports, for example, that the officers would bark harshly for Nichols to show his hands even when his hands were bound behind his back. Also, the officers would deliberately shout conflicting orders that could not be followed because Nichols would have violated the order of one cop while obeying the commands of another.
The former officers — Justin Smith, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, Demetrius Haley and Tadarrius Bean — have been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct, and official oppression.
Additionally, a sixth cop named Preston Hemphill was relieved of duty on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023, along with two unnamed sheriff’s deputies and several members of the Memphis Fire Department.
The news station WLBT stated that Bean, Smith, and Mills have posted their $250,000 bond and are temporarily out of jail. Haley and Martin are still being held on a $350,000 bond.
The ex-cops are scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 17 at 9 a.m.
