The city off Memphis is on pins and needles in advance of tomorrow night’s release of video of Mr. Nichols murder. It is not in every in-custody homicide that you read ominous characterizations of the video as you do in this AP report:
The Nichols family and their lawyers say the footage shows officers savagely beating the 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes in an assault that the legal team likened to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.
David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said he saw the video and found it “absolutely appalling. ... I’ve been policing for more than 30 years, I’ve devoted my life to this profession and I’m grieved. Frankly “I’m shocked, I’m sickened by what I saw and what we learned through our investigation”...
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The attorneys for Nichols’ family, Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, issued a statement saying that Nichols “lost his life in a particularly disgusting manner that points to the desperate need for change and reform to ensure this violence stops occurring during low-threat procedures, like in this case, a traffic stop.”
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis called the actions of her officers “heinous, reckless and inhumane.”
“This is not just a professional failing. This is a failing of basic humanity toward another individual,” [she] said in a video statement released late Wednesday on social media.
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Crump said the video showed showed that Nichols was shocked, pepper-sprayed and restrained when he was pulled over near his home. He was returning home from a suburban park where he had taken photos of the sunset.
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Police have said Nichols was stopped for reckless driving and at some point fled from the scene.
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.
When video of the arrest is publicly released, Davis said she expects people in the community to react, but she urged them to do so peacefully.
“None of this is a calling card for inciting violence or destruction on our community or against our citizens,” she said.
I hope Memphis and the state of Tennessee are prepared for tomorrow night. I hope that there is a good reason for releasing this video on a FRIDAY NIGHT but honestly I can’t think of one.
