‘Shortness of breath’: How police first described what happened to Tyre Nichols

 

The first time Memphis police described what happened between their officers and Tyre Nichols — the 29-year-old who died of his injuries after being beaten by police — they wrote that “a confrontation occurred” following a traffic stop. Nichols fled on foot, and then “another confrontation occurred.”

“Afterward, the suspect complained of having a shortness of breath,” reads the statement posted on the Memphis Police Department’s Twitter account the morning after Nichols was beaten on Jan. 7. “The suspect was transported to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition.”

That is police-speak that I am familiar with. I don't know how many times I read that "the suspect was contacted by these officers and resisted and was redirected to the ground." That is almost art.