Tyre Nichols Memphis Protest Live Updates: Body Cam Footage Released

MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Protesters are back in the streets Saturday evening. It's lightly raining outside city hall.

"We demand that each and every officer, every sheriffs officer, every EMT, be immediately fired," Memphis city council member JB Smiley Jr. told the crowd.

Protesters are angry today that the mayor didn't agree to meet their demands in a call that was made from the bridge last night. They are expressing dismay, after watching the video, that there were eight people in the video and they don't know the names of the other three. Five officers have been charged with second-degree murder.

Smiley is opening the protest tonight, urging people to show up to city council meetings and not give up until there's change: "As we say in Memphis, pull up."

—Scott Heins (@scottheins) January 28, 2023

MEMPHIS, Tenn — Every Saturday night, RowVaughn Wells would cook dinner for her husband and son. They would eat together.

But on the evening of January 7, the Memphis mother had a strange pain in her stomach and didn't know why.

It wasn't until hours later that she would learn that that pain coincided with some of what she now believes her son Tyre was experiencing mere blocks away.

"For me to find out that my son was calling my name, and I was only feet away, and I did not even hear him; you have no clue how I feel right now," Wells said on Friday.

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Crump tweeted that they "bonded over the love they share for their children."

Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, told Biden that her son had her name tattooed on his arm.

"If I could give you a piece of advice," Biden told them, "if things get really rough, don't be afraid to ask for help. This is like if you were in a battlefield and something happened. It's called post-traumatic stress."

—Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) January 28, 2023

On January 8, the Memphis Police Department released a statement describing a "confrontation" with an alleged reckless driver, later identified as Tyre Nichols. But bodycam footage of the incident, released Friday, revealed a different story of the brutal beating that left the 29-year-old dead.

"On January 7, 2023, at approximately 8:30pm, officers in the area of Raines Road and Ross Road attempted to make a traffic stop for reckless driving," The original Memphis Police Department statement read. "As officers approached the driver of the vehicle, a confrontation occurred, and the suspect fled the scene on foot."

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Tyre Nichols was a gentle skateboarder who loved his family and photography. And his friends, family, and activists protesting his death want to remember him that way. 

A video compilation of the 29-year-old grinding rails and catching air in Sacramento, California is being shared across social media to commemorate his life.

Camara Williams, a podcaster, attorney, and community organizer who advocates for abolishing the police, tweeted the video on Friday, telling Insider the video showed "he was a person who lived in life and lived in joy." 

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"What I saw was certainly police misconduct," Joshua Ritter, a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor, and partner with El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers, told Insider of the footage. "What I saw is never the way that five fully trained officers should try to detain a person."

Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers and a former federal prosecutor, said there was "no question in my mind that murder charges are appropriate."

"I've prosecuted police officers. I've seen police officers imprisoned. I've seen a lot," he said. "This is probably one of the worst things I've ever seen."

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—Shannonnn sharpes Burner (PARODY Account) (@shannonsharpeee) January 28, 2023

In an emotional interview with CNN's Don Lemon, Memphis City Council chairman Martavius Jones broke down in tears over the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, saying "this wasn't supposed to happen."

"Don, we have to do something," Jones told Lemon in the clip, which has since gone viral on social media. "Not that we were immune to anything, but this wasn't supposed to happen in our community. This was a traffic stop, it wasn't supposed to end like this."

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—ShelbyTNSheriff (@ShelbyTNSheriff) January 28, 2023

Two deputies with the Shelby County Sheriff's office were relieved of duty pending an investigation, Sheriff Floyd Bonner, Jr. said in a Friday night statement.

"Having watched the videotape for the first time tonight, I have concerns about two deputies who appeared on the scene following the physical confrontation between police and Tyre Nichols," the statement reads. "I have launched an internal investigation into the conduct of these deputies to determine what occurred and if any policies were violated."

On Friday evening, officials in Memphis, Tennessee, released the video footage of Memphis Police Officers beating Nichols after a January 7, 2023, traffic stop. Nichols died several days later of his injuries.

Five now-former Memphis Police Officers have been charged with second-degree murder.

Protesters gathered in New York City in Times Square and other locations on Friday night to protest the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man. A handful of arrests were made, per NYPD, but the full number would not be available until the morning.

Nichols died several days after being beaten by police in Memphis, Tennessee, during a January 7, 2023, traffic stop. Camera footage of the deadly police beating was released by Memphis on Friday evening at 7 p.m. ET.

MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Protesters told Insider's Haven Orecchio that they called Mayor Jim Strickland with demands and will not leave the Memphis and Arkansas Bridge, where the protesters have congregated, until he returns their call.

The demands include but are not limited to passing the Data Transparency Ordinance at the city and county levels, tracking law enforcement data, ending the use of unmarked cars and plainclothes officers, and dissolving the SCORPION unit along with other task forces.

President Joe Biden spoke out on Friday moments after the release of several videos showing police officers brutally beating Tyre Nichols.

On Friday, The City of Memphis released four separate videos related to events surrounding the arrest and beating of Nichols.

Biden said in a statement that he was "outraged" by what he saw. 

"Like so many, I was outraged and deeply pained to see the horrific video of the beating that resulted in Tyre Nichols' death," Biden said. "It is yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day."

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MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Speaking from the driver's seat of an 18-wheeler trying to merge onto I-55, truck driver Mark told insider he was running out of fuel.

He didn't know that he'd run into the protest. If he did, he said, he would have left later.

As a Black man, he said he doesn't fault the protestors and would "possibly" be out with them if he was from here. He's on his way to Oklahoma with 1,400 miles left.

"It could have been me," he told Insider. "It's not the first and it won't be the last."

MEMPHIS, Tennessee — The Memphis Police Department released disturbing footage Friday evening showing the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols.

The violent footage, from police body cameras and stationary cameras, was released on the department's Vimeo page.

"You guys are really doing a lot right now," Nichols is heard saying to the officers at the start of the videos, which were released in four parts. "I'm just trying to go home."

The beating occurred during a traffic stop in Memphis' Hickory Hill neighborhood on January 7. Nichols, who was 29, died of his injuries three days later. Authorities said Nichols had been stopped by the officers and accused of reckless driving, but Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn J. Davis has since said the department has not found proof to substantiate the reckless driving allegation.

Memphis officials and others with access to the video had warned the public of the gruesome nature of the footage in advance of its release on Friday. 

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MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Protesters gathered at Martyrs Park in Memphis, Tennessee, around 6 p.m. local time on Friday evening as the city braced for the release of graphic body camera footage that shows several police officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols.

Demonstrators said they didn't need to wait for the video — they already knew Nichols' death was murder.

Five officers have been charged with second-degree murder.

Approximately hundreds of protesters blocked a long line of 18-wheelers on Old Bridge, chanting "You take our lives, we'll take your money" and "no justice, no peace.

Sherri, a Memphis native, told Insider her 28-year-old Black son moved to Germany, and she's glad he's out of the country and away from cops in Memphis. She said she was pulled over on Thursday night and was nervous.

When an officer asked her why she was anxious, she responded: "Not all interactions end this way."