Memphis releases videos showing Tyre Nichols' arrest

Four videos show the moment when the 29-year-old man was arrested and beaten by officers.

The City of Memphis has released videos showing the arrest of Tyre Nichols. The 29-year-old man was arrested for an alleged traffic violation. He was beaten by five officers. He was taken to the hospital, but died three days after the arrest.

The first body camera video shows Tyre Nichols being detained by officers. Nichols  exits his vehicle saying that he hasn’t done anything wrong. The officers threaten him with their guns. Nichols screams, protests, and resists. At one moment, he gets away from the agents and runs away. The officer with the body camera returns to Nichols' car, along with a colleague.

Video 1

Video 2

The second video, which comes from an outside camera and has no sound, again shows the agents with Tyre Nichols. They arrest him again and hold him against the ground. At that time, there are four agents. Nichols continues to resist, and one of the officers pulls out his baton and begins to beat Nichols to get him under control.

Nichols manages to get to his feet. Then, two agents grab him by the arms, and another one, the one without the baton, punches him. Finally, he gives out and falls down. He continues to show resistance for some time. They cuff his hands behind his back and drag him toward one of the police cars, and lay him down there.

At around the 12-minute mark, Nichols is unable to keep his back upright against the car. He falls to the ground. He tries to sit up, but cannot. 18 minutes later, an ambulance arrives and takes Nichols away.

Video 3

The third video shows this second arrest from a different officer’s body camera. The images show that, again, he tries to break free and escape. The officer walks away, while the other officers insist: "Give me a hand. Give me a hand." They try to handcuff him.

The policeman with the body camera is the one with the baton. Nichols continues to resist. The images corroborate the blows Nichols took. They show the officer threatening him with more pepper spray. Nichols is also tased.

"You guys are doing a lot, now. I just want to go home," Nichols tells them at one point.

Video 4

The fourth video also comes from a body camera. From minute 1:36, the images get blurry, because the agent’s helmet falls off. However, the sound is still audible: the officers are trying to handcuff him, and Nichols resists while calling for his mother. At minute 7:33, the agent puts his helmet back on, allowing us to see what happens next. It shows what happens after the beating while they wait for the ambulance to arrive.

At 8:42, two police officers have a conversation and one of them says that Nichols tried to grab an officer's gun. One of the policemen says:

We tried to get him to stop. He didn't stop. He drove around and swerved like he was gonna hit my car. Then I'm like God damn like what are we doing? He pulled up to the red light and stopped at the red light. Put his turn signal on. So we jumped out of the car, and shit went from there.