5 Police Officers Charged for the Murder of Tyre Nichols
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Five Memphis, Tennessee, police officers have been charged for the murder of Tyre Nichols.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith were indicted on murder charges Thursday for beating Nichols to death after allegedly stopping him for reckless driving on January 7.
Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man and father of a 4-year-old son, was hospitalized in critical condition after the officers brutally attacked him at the traffic stop. He died three days later.
The officers were fired from the police force over the incident. All five have been charged with second-degree murder, two counts of official misconduct, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of official oppression, and one count of aggravated assault, prosecutors said.
"The actions of all of them resulted in the death of Tyre Nichols, and they are all responsible," Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy told reporters.
Second-degree murder, the most serious of the charges, "is a knowing killing," Mulroy said.
Footage of the incident will be released this Friday evening.
Ahead of the release, Memphis-Shelby County Schools announced it is canceling after-school activities Friday, and Southwest Tennessee Community College said its Friday classes will be virtual. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials in other cities are preparing for protests.
"I’ve seen the video myself and I will tell you I was appalled," FBI Director Christopher Wray said Friday.
Despite her grief, Nichols's mother is asking people to protest peacefully.
"I don’t want us burning up our city, tearing up the streets, because that’s not what my son stood for," RowVaughn Wells told a crowd at a candlelight vigil Thursday, per USA Today. "If you guys are here for me and Tyre, then you will protest peacefully. You can get your point across but we don’t need to tear up our cities, people, because we do have to live in them."
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