Punched, kicked and tasered: Timeline of violent arrest of Tyre Nichols

Published

2 years ago

January 28, 2023

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Tyre Nichols was punched, kicked and tasered, beaten with a baton and had pepper spray used on him during a violent arrest by police in Memphis, video footage shows.

The father-of-one died three days after the beating he received on 7 January and five officers have been charged with second-degree murder.

Police initially said Mr Nichols had been stopped for reckless driving and that a “confrontation” occurred in an effort to detain him.

However Memphis police chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said a review of the incident could not “substantiate” the reckless driving claim.

Here is a timeline of the crucial moments from the footage – released by police – that recorded events from 8.24pm to 9pm.

8:24pm

This is the first sight of Mr Nichols’ car, already stopped at a junction where two officers order him to get out of his vehicle.

One of the officers opens the driver’s door and drags the 29-year-old out.

Mr Nichols can be heard telling them: “Damn, I didn’t do anything.”

8.25pm

As he is forced to the ground and sworn at, Mr Nicols can be heard trying to pacify the police saying: “All right, all right.”

One of the officers tells him: “I’m going to tase your ass.”

Mr Nichols says: “All right, I’m on the ground… Stop, stop… You guys are really doing a lot right now. I’m just trying to go home… Stop. I’m not doing anything.”

He then breaks free and runs away in the direction of his mother’s house.

An officer fires his Taser and police chase after him.

8.26pm to 8.31pm

There is no video of Mr Nichols during this time, when apparently two officers catch and detain Mr Nichols.

8:31pm

Mr Nichols is seen on the ground being subdued by two officers, less than half a mile from where the traffic stop happened.

8:33pm

A third officer arrives on the scene.

One of them says: “Do you want to get sprayed again?”

Two officers can then be seen punching and slapping Mr Nichols as he lies on the ground trying to protect his head from the blows and screaming: “Mom. Mom.”

The newly arrived officer tells his colleagues to “watch out” before spraying Mr Nichols, who again cried out: “Mom. Mom.”

His mother’s house is just a short distance away.

An officer then orders Mr Nichols to “give me your hands.”

A fourth policeman arrives on the scene.

Mr Nichols is then sprayed again which apparently also hits another officer, who can be heard swearing.

8.34pm

One of the officers kicks Mr Nichols in the face twice.

The officer who had stepped away returns and says, “I’m going to baton the f*** out of you” raising his stick.

8.35pm

The officer with the baton hits Mr Nichols with it three times as other officers begin to stand him up.

One officer punches Mr Nichols at least five times in the head while two others hold him up.

He falls to the ground and officers hold him down.

8.36pm

A fifth officer arrives on scene and kicks Mr Nichols, before another officer kicks him.

A sixth and seventh officer arrive who appear to observe the scene. One of them makes a call on his radio.

8.37pm

Officers step back with Mr Nichols now in handcuffs.

8:38pm

Mr Nichols is dragged across the ground and propped sitting up against a patrol car.

8.40pm

Officers stand around discussing the incident, laughing and joking.

One complains about having hurt his leg.

8.41pm

Mr Nichols slumps to his right to the ground.

“Hey, sit up, bro,” one officer says. Mr Nichols is grabbed by the arm and pulled back into a sitting position.

Two emergency medical staff arrive but is unclear what treatment if any is given.

8.41pm to 8.55pm

Mr Nichols remains on the ground as officers mill around.

One leans down and tells him: “You can’t go nowhere.”

8.55pm to 9pm

Emergency workers appear to begin tending to Mr Nichols again as he is propped up against the police car.

9pm

A stretcher is wheeled into the area and two minutes later an ambulance arrives.

9.18pm

Mr Nichols complains of difficulty breathing and is taken to hospital.

A post-mortem examination later reveals he “suffered excessive bleeding caused by a severe beating”.

US

Downtown LA is a scene of pandemonium and lawlessness

Published

5 hours ago

June 9, 2025

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Downtown LA is a scene of pandemonium and lawlessness

A shirtless man waving a Mexican flag stands atop a burning car in the heart of Los Angeles, as another man throws a traffic cone into the flames and some play drums and shout chants in opposition to immigration officials.

In the background, city hall can be glimpsed through a haze of thick black smoke.

The downtown district of one of America’s biggest cities was a scene of pandemonium and lawlessness as protests, which had previously been mainly peaceful, turned ugly.

Critics of Donald Trump said the president’s extraordinary decision to deploy National Guard troops, defying the wishes of the state’s governor, had inflamed tensions and stoked emotions.

The 101 Freeway, the main highway cutting through the downtown area, was also closed down for much of the day as police and protesters faced off, with flash bang devices sending some people scattering.

Bottles and other projectiles were hurled towards police, who responded by using tear gas and rubber bullets.

It was this chaos, his critics say, that Donald Trump wanted to provoke.

Trump’s decision to call in 2,000 National Guard troops, several hundred of whom were on the streets of LA on Sunday, was taken without consultation with the California governor and LA mayor, and marked an extraordinary escalation by the president.

The military arrived on Sunday morning and was ordered to guard federal buildings, after two days of protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

As part of Trump’s closed border policy, ICE has been ordered to find, detain and deport as many illegal immigrants as possible, and it was these raids that stoked the first signs of protest on Friday into the weekend.

By midday Sunday, the military was surrounded by protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Centre in downtown LA. It was here that many immigrants had been held before being shipped off to detention facilities.

The walls and floors are covered in expletive-ridden graffiti, reading f*** ICE.

The Los Angeles police soon split the crowd and drove a wedge between the National Guard and the crowd.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has called Donald Trump’s acts those of a “dictator, not a president”.

He’s formally requested that the Trump administration withdraw the National Guard. The White House say the military will remain there until order is restored. Five hundred marines are still on standby.

Los Angeles Police Department police chief Jim McDonnell, asked whether the National Guard was needed, said: “This thing has gotten out of control.”

He said that although the LAPD would not initially have requested assistance from the National Guard, the disorder had caused him to reevaluate his assessment.

Several people were arrested.

Sky News witnessed a young woman, who called herself Gabriella, riding her motorbike at speed towards a line of police officers.

One of the police officers used his arm to push her off the bike. She said she was protesting because her “people were being rounded up.”

Politicians on both sides of the aisle condemned the violence, but some vehemently disagreed about what actions led to the escalation.

US

National Guard to be deployed to LA immigration ‘riots’ – as Trump claims state officials ‘can’t do their jobs’

Published

1 day ago

June 8, 2025

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National Guard to be deployed to LA immigration 'riots' - as Trump claims state officials 'can't do their jobs'

The National Guard will be deployed to Los Angeles after “riots” in response to immigration raids extended into a second day.

California Governor Gavin Newsom confirmed that the Trump administration is deploying “2,000 soldiers” to Los Angeles after local police used tear gas, stun guns, and riot shields to push back immigration protesters on Saturday.

Demonstrations began outside the Los Angeles Federal Building in the downtown area of LA on Friday after officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out raids in the area.

On Saturday, several dozen protesters were involved in police standoffs in Paramount, a city south of LA.

Mr Newsom warned in a post on X: “The federal government is sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate. That is not the way any civilized country behaves.”

He described the deployment as “purposefully inflammatory” and claimed it will “only escalate tensions”.

President Donald Trump hit back at Mr Newsom in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday.

“If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!,” he wrote.

Mr Trump’s defence secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that active duty marines would also be mobilised if “violence continues”.

LA mayor Karen Bass said that amid the recovery from this year’s wildfires, “many in our community are feeling fear” following “recent federal immigration enforcement actions” across LA County.

“We’ve been in direct contact with officials in Washington, D.C., and are working closely with law enforcement to find the best path forward,” she said.

“Everyone has the right to peacefully protest, but let me be clear: violence and destruction are unacceptable, and those responsible will be held accountable.”

Reports the guard would be deployed to LA came earlier on Saturday, from Mr Trump’s border tsar Tom Homan on Fox News.

44 arrested in Friday raids

At least 44 people were arrested on suspicion of immigration violations during raids on Friday, with crowds of around “1,000 rioters” forming around the building before some “assaulted law enforcement officers, slashed tires, and defaced taxpayer-funded property”, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The raids saw street vendors and day workers rounded up across Home Depots, a clothing factory, and a warehouse, Salas of Chirla (The Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles) said.

In a statement on Saturday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “violent mobs” had “attacked ICE officers and federal law enforcement agents carrying out basic deportation operations”.

She described such activity as “essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States”.

Ms Leavitt said Californian politicians were “feckless” and had “completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens”, prompting Mr Trump’s order to send in the guard.

Protests spread to second city

On Saturday, protests spread to the Paramount area, where there is a significant Latino population, after demonstrators spotted ICE employees in a Home Depot car park they appeared to be using as a base.

Law enforcement officers faced off protesters at a road junction at around 5pm where a car had been set on fire earlier in the day.

The roads were pictured strewn with trolleys and rubbish bins set on fire, as gas canisters and fireworks were also set off.

Commenting on Saturday’s protests, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said: “It appeared that federal law enforcement officers were in the area, and that members of the public were gathering to protest.”

Vice President JD Vance claimed that “insurrectionists” were seen “carrying foreign flags” and “attacking immigration enforcement officers” in Paramount.

“One half of America’s political leadership has decided that border enforcement is evil,” he posted on X. “Time to pass President Trump’s beautiful bill and further secure the border.”

The clashes come amid Trump’s nationwide crackdown on illegal migration.

As soon as he was re-elected in January he set a target of arresting 3,000 suspected illegal migrants per day – and promised to lock down the US-Mexico border.

US

Elon Musk post claiming that Donald Trump appears in Epstein files removed from X

Published

2 days ago

June 7, 2025

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Elon Musk post claiming that Donald Trump appears in Epstein files removed from X

Elon Musk’s social media post claiming Donald Trump is in files relating to the disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has been removed.

The tech billionaire made the allegation on X as he traded blows with the US president in a dramatic public row.

In the post, which now appears to have been deleted, Musk said: “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.

“Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”

He gave no evidence for the claim, which was dismissed by the White House – with the post disappearing from his social media platform by Sunday.

Users clicking on the message – first posted on Thursday – were instead greeted with: “Hmm…this page doesn’t exist. Try searching for something else.”

Epstein killed himself in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors.

Musk and Mr Trump’s relationship broke down publicly on Thursday, just days after the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive left his role as a special government employee.

In a fiery exchange, Musk posted a series of messages on X criticising the president’s signature tax and spending bill as a “big ugly spending bill”.

President Trump posted on Truth Social, saying Musk had been “wearing thin” and claimed he “asked him to leave” his government position – something Musk denied.

Musk then hit back with his claim about the US president appearing in the Epstein files.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the comment in a statement.

“This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted,” she said.

“The president is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.”