Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Ladies and gentleman, here we are again.
As sad, unfortunate and painful as it is to admit, America has a serious problem when it comes to police brutality & people of color — one that has yet again left another Black man dead at the hands of the Memphis police department put in place to protect him and his community.
The heartbreaking Jan. 7 police beating of 29-year-old Black man Tyre Nichols, who died just days later from his injuries on Jan. 10, is expected to get even more gut-wrenching now that body cam footage from an attack described as “heinous” has officially been made available to the public.
RELATED: Tyre Nichols Autopsy Results Confirm ‘Severe Beating’ By Memphis Police, Attorneys Say
CNN correspondent Don Lemon was able to speak with Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis (seen above) prior to the footage being released, and the video is already being compared to the infamous March 1991 Rodney King beating by LAPD. That’s saying a lot in itself, but Davis went a step further to call it “about the same, if not worse,” further explaining, “the video is broken into four different sort of fragmented pieces, but they’re all very relevant to this incident.”
Based on her assessment, what we see in the newly-released footage includes the initial stop, the stop near Tyre’s home and individual body cams from officers in the scene. You will also hear Tyre “cry for his mom,” as Davis also confirmed to Lemon, which she follows up by stating, “That’s why this incident…the disregard for humanity is, as I mentioned before, I think that’s what really just pulls at your heartstrings and makes you wonder why was a sense of care and concern for this individual just absent from this situation [to]all [officers]who went to the scene.”
Watch the footage of Tyre Nichols brutal beating by Memphis Police officers below, which we warn you is extremely graphic, and please give yourself the space to take it all in mentally and talk with someone if you need to:
