Tyre Nichols killing: US braced for release of ‘sickening’ footage of officers ‘beating up driver’ who later died
Five former police officers have been charged with murder over the death of a black driver who was allegedly beaten up after a traffic stop.
Tyre Nichols, 29, died in hospital three days after the confrontation in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, on 7 January.
Bodycam footage of the altercation is expected to be released on Friday evening.
A lawyer for the Nichols’ family who has seen the footage said he was used as “a human pinata”.
Joe Biden, the president, called for any protests to be peaceful after the charges on Thursday.
Nichols, a father of one, was arrested after he was stopped for reckless driving, police said, before he was allegedly beaten by the officers for three minutes.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The mother of Tyre Nichols asks ‘What happened to the humanity?’
The five black officers involved in the arrest were sacked after a police investigation found they used excessive force or failed to intervene and help him.
They are Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr and Justin Smith, who are between 24 and 32.
Cerelyn Davis, the Memphis police chief, has asked for calm when the video footage is made public.
“I expect you to feel what the Nichols family feels,” she said. “I expect you to feel outrage in the disregard of basic human rights.”
A photo of Tyre Nichols at his memorial service in Memphis. Pic: AP
David Rausch, the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said he was sickened by what he saw in the police body-worn camera videos.
“What happened here does not at all reflect proper policing,” he said. “This was wrong. This was criminal.”
Steve Mulroy, the district attorney, said the five officers have been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping and official misconduct at a news conference on Thursday.
He said that after Mr Nichols was stopped in his car, there was “an altercation” and officers used pepper spray on him.
Mr Nichols fled on foot.
“There was another altercation at a nearby location at which the serious injuries were experienced by Mr Nichols,” Mr Mulroy said.
The Memphis police department said in an initial statement that an ambulance was called because Mr Nichols “complained of having a shortness of breath” and that he was taken to hospital in critical condition.
Mr Mulroy said he would not comment on the legality of the initial traffic stop.
He said the investigation would continue and he would not rule out additional charges.
President Biden said: “Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable.
“Tyre’s death is a painful reminder that we must do more to ensure that our criminal justice system lives up to the promise of fair and impartial justice, equal treatment and dignity for all.”
The Nichols family watched the police footage on Monday with their lawyer, Ben Crump, who compared the beating to the 1991 assault by police on Rodney King in Los Angeles that was captured on video and prompted mass protests and police reforms.
Read more:
Woman in car dragged for eight miles underneath truck
Teacher shot by six-year-old student texted loved ones to say school was failing to act
“He was defenceless the entire time. He was a human pinata for those police officers,” Antonio Romanucci, Mr Crump’s co-counsel, told reporters.
Mr Crump said Nichols’ last words heard on the video were of him calling for his mother three times.
Each of the five sacked officers had served in the department for between two and a half and five years, and were dismissed from the force last Saturday.
The officers could not be reached for comment.
Blake Ballin, a lawyer representing Mills, said at a news conference that the former officer was “devastated to find himself charged with a crime”.
Ballin was joined by William Massey, representing Martin. Both former officers intended to plead not guilty, their lawyers said.
Student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza continue to spread across the US, following last week’s arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University.
There have been nearly 550 protest-related arrests in the past week at major US universities, according to a tally by news agency Reuters.
The students want universities to cut ties with companies helping Israel’s war in Gaza and, in some cases, with Israel itself.
Some universities have called in police to end the demonstrations, resulting in clashes and arrests, while others appear to be biding their time as the academic semester enters its final days.
Students at Columbia. Pic: Reuters
The University of Southern California cancelled its main graduation ceremony, set for 10 May, after the arrests of 93 people at the Los Angeles campus on Wednesday.
At Boston’s Emerson College, 108 people were arrested overnight with video showing students linking arms to resist officers, who then moved forcefully through the crowd, throwing some students to the ground.
University of Michigan. Pic: Reuters
George Washington University. Pic: Reuters
Student protester Ocean Muir said: “There were just more cops on all sides.
“It felt like we were being slowly pushed in and crushed.”
She said police lifted her by her arms and legs to carry her away and she was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct.
At Emory University’s Atlanta campus, 28 people were detained and the local branch of activist group Jewish Voice For Peace said police used tear gas and tasers on protesters.
Police there admitted using “chemical irritants” but denied using rubber bullets.
Cheryl Elliott, Emory’s vice president for public safety, said the aim was to clear the area of a “disruptive encampment while holding individuals accountable to the law” but human rights groups questioned the “apparent use of excessive force” against free speech.
Charges were dropped, meanwhile, against 46 of the 60 people detained by police at the University of Texas.
Harvard University. Pic: Reuters
Police arrest a pro-Palestinian protester at USC campus in Los Angeles, California.
Pic: Reuters
Police arrest a pro-Palestinian protester at USC campus in Los Angeles, California.
Pic: Reuters
At Indiana University Bloomington, police with shields and batons shoved into a line of protesters, arresting 33 people.
At City College of New York, police officers retreated from protests, to cheers from the hundreds of students gathered on the lawn on the Harlem campus.
At California State Polytechnic University in Humboldt, students have been barricaded in a campus building since Monday, with staff trying to negotiate.
At University of Connecticut one protester was arrested and tents torn down, while protests continued at Stanford University and the New Jersey campus of Princeton University.
Read more:
UN human rights chief ‘horrified’ over Gaza mass graves report
Israel bulldozed mass graves at Gaza hospital, Sky News analysis shows
Israeli intelligence chief quits over 7 October attack
Harvard University is among those that have not taken action against protesters who have set up tents.
At New York’s Columbia University, where the protest movement began, university officials remain locked in a stalemate with students.
Police cleared tents and arrested more than 100 people last week but students put the tents up again in an area where graduation ceremonies will be held in a few weeks.
The administration has given protesters until Friday to leave.
There have been accusations that some pro-Palestinian protesters have harassed or abused Jewish students but protesters blame outsiders trying to infiltrate and malign their movement.
Protest leaders admit there has been abuse directed at Jewish students but insist the protests are not antisemitic.
Some of the universities have seen counter-protests from Israel supporters.
US
A race against time for Donald Trump as America seeks the whole truth – and nothing but the truth
Two courts aren’t enough – not for Donald Trump, not on a Thursday.
His hush money criminal trial and Supreme Court hearing, legal events one and two, were already under way when he scored the hat-trick.
A New York judge announced he was upholding the verdict and the $83m damages award against Trump for defaming writer E Jean Carroll.
There’s a lot going on, legally, and there’s a lot riding on all of it for Trump.
Catch up: how the day unfolded in court
The hearing at the Supreme Court concerned the 6 January riots, election subversion and Trump’s alleged involvement. It is a crime against democracy, at the serious end of the legal jeopardy he faces.
His lawyers argued he should be shielded by immunity from prosecution for what he did while acting as president.
The prosecution’s case is that he was acting as a private citizen, not in an official capacity.
Trump wasn’t present at the hearing in Washington DC, but he will have liked what he heard.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The prevailing legal assessment is that discussions with the nine-judge panel indicate that, while they didn’t necessarily agree with his argument for immunity, they have enough questions to delay the prosecution further.
A majority appear to think that presidents have some immunity from criminal prosecution for their official actions, even if the exact parameters are unclear.
Read more:
Porn stars, sex scandals and zzzs: A to Z of hush money trial
Newspaper chief was Trump’s ‘eyes and ears’
Adam Boulton: What Liz Truss and Donald Trump have in common
What is clear is that if the trial court is instructed to determine which of Trump’s allegedly illegal acts qualify for immunity as official acts, it will be an extended process that could easily push the trial beyond the November election.
Such a scenario would suit Trump. The less criminal exposure he has before America votes, the better for him.
If he can push the trial past November, and win back the White House, he can use the power of office to make the charges go away.
Pic: Reuters
The New York hush money trial is the only one of four criminal prosecutions to have begun.
The Supreme Court appears set to shorten the odds on it being the only one before America goes to the polls.
It is the pressing matter of the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the man who would be president, and it’s a race against time.
This stress test of the fundamentals of American democracy and rule of law gets ever more stressful.
Donald Trump managed a partial victory in the Supreme Court today, as justices delayed any potential decision on his immunity case over election riots.
Trump argued on Thursday he has total immunity over the 2020 riots and while justices in the Supreme Court were not convinced by his arguments, some raised the point he may have some level of immunity – and delayed any potential decision on that until June.
If they then rule the former president does have a level of immunity, it could kick the issue back into lower courts to decide what that level is, and knock back any potential decision to beyond the November election.
On Thursday, Trump, who made history as his country’s first ex-leader to face a criminal trial, was also fighting on two other separate legal fronts. They include:
• His hush money trial in New York where he is accused of falsifying business records after allegedly paying money to porn actress Stormy Daniels to “cover up an affair”.
• His defamation case, brought by writer E Jean Carroll – a judge rejected Trump’s attempt to throw out the verdict against him, leaving him facing an $83.3m (£66.5m) payout.
And adding to Trump’s legal woes, his former lawyers and associates were indicted on Wednesday in a 2020 election-related scheme in Arizona.
Follow latest: Trump’s hush money and Supreme Court trials
Analysis: Trump has won qualified victory at Supreme Court
Trump at Manhattan Criminal Court with his lawyers. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Supreme Court
During proceedings, justices appeared likely to reject Trump’s claims of total immunity, but delayed any ruling to make a decision over what specific immunity he may or may not have.
Trump, 77, had even asked to skip his New York criminal proceedings to sit in on the Supreme Court’s special sessions.
In Washington, the lawyer representing the special counsel told the court it had never been previously recognised what kind of immunity Trump was actually seeking.
Chief justice John Roberts said he was concerned if presidents were not immune, the country would rely on “good faith” to prevent abusive prosecutions against presidents.
Read more from Sky News:
Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction overturned
Dolphin found shot dead on beach
US considers cutting funds to notorious Israeli army unit
He told the special counsel’s lawyer, Michael Dreeben: “Now you know how easy it is in many cases for a prosecutor to get a grand jury to bring an indictment.
“And reliance on the good faith of the prosecutor may not be enough in some cases – I’m not suggesting here [Smith’s indictment of Trump].”
The Supreme Court is expected to release its opinions by the end of June over whether Trump has immunity or not.
With five justices appearing likely to reject Trump’s claims of absolute immunity, some suggested the former president may have some level of immunity.
If the eventual ruling reflects that, lower courts may be required to sort out the specifics of this – which could push any eventual decision past the November election.
Pic: AP
Hush money
Meanwhile, in New York, Trump was once again present in Manhattan’s criminal court, accused of falsifying business records.
Earlier this week, the court heard from AMI, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, about an alleged “catch and kill” scheme, which was said to have been used to get rid of negative stories about Trump.
David Pecker, boss of AMI who signed a no-prosecution deal to testify, described shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy up rights to potentially damaging stories.
The National Enquirer, the court heard, bought up a sordid story from a New York City doorman as well as accusations of an extramarital affair with a former Playboy model to stop the claims getting out.
But Mr Pecker reached his breaking point with Stormy Daniels – a porn actress who was allegedly paid by Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, to keep quiet over her claims of a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump. Something he denies.
Mr Pecker told jurors his publication had been contacted by Ms Daniels’s representatives who said they could buy her story for $120,000 (£96,000) if it decided right away.
However, the publishing boss refused to. He told Mr Cohen: “I am not paying for this story. I didn’t want to be involved in this from the beginning.”
After that, a cross-examination of Mr Pecker began, with one of Trump’s lawyers, Emil Bove, taking centre stage.
Pic Reuters
Gag order
Hanging over Thursday’s hush money proceedings were allegations that Trump, once again, violated a gag order.
The order restricted Trump’s public speech regarding jurors, potential witnesses and some other individuals involved in the case.
Judge Juan Merchan was already considering whether to hold Trump in contempt and fine him for what prosecutors alleged were 10 separate violations of the order.
But on Thursday the prosecution ticked off fresh instances of alleged breaches.
These were additional remarks made about Mr Cohen, and a comment Trump made about the jury being “95% Democrats”, among other things.
But Trump was previously dismissive about the threat of having to pay up when speaking outside court, saying he had “no idea” whether he would be fined.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
E Jean Carroll
While things may have went his way partly in the Supreme Court, a judge rejected Trump’s attempt to get a defamation verdict against him thrown out.
Writer E Jean Carroll said Trump defamed her after she accused him of raping her decades ago.
The court ordered Trump to pay $83.3m in damages, and on Thursday, US district judge Lewis Kaplan said Trump was not entitled to a new trial or judgement, so had to pay up.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment11 months agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports6 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Technology3 years ago
Game consoles were once banned in China. Now Chinese developers want a slice of the $49 billion pie
-
Politics2 years ago
Have the last few wobbly weeks seen a turning point for Johnson as PM?