Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said on Friday that the video of the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, 29, by police in Memphis earlier this month is “about the same, if not worse” than the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles more than three decades ago.
Nichols was beaten by police on January 7 after he was pulled over for reckless driving. He was taken to hospital after complaining of shortness of breath. Nichols died three days later.
The five officers involved in the arrest— Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith— were fired and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression.
Davis, who had previously described the officers’ actions that day as “heinous” and “inhumane” told CNN that footage of the incident, set to be released later Friday, is “about the same if not worse” than the footage of officers in Los Angeles beating Rodney King after pulling him over in 1991.
The Nichols family and their attorneys watched the footage earlier this week.
Attorney Antonio Romanucci said Nichols was “defenseless the entire time” while the five police officers beat him.
“He was a human piñata,” Romanucci said. “It was an unadulterated, unabashed, non-stop beating of this young boy for three minutes.”
