MEMPHIS (Reuters) -- Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old father of a 4-year-old boy, died in the hospital on Jan. 10 of injuries he sustained during his arrest by five officers, all of whom have been fired.
“He was defenseless the entire time. He was a human piñata for those police officers,” attorney Antonio Romanucci, Crump’s co-counsel, told reporters.
“It was an unadulterated, unabashed, nonstop beating of this young boy for three minutes. That is what we saw in that video,” he said, adding, “There were multiple uses of force against him.”
The attorneys said local, state and federal investigators promised to release the bodycam video to the public within a week or two. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, FBI and Justice Department are investigating the incident in addition to Memphis police and the Shelby County District attorney.
The police department determined after its investigation that the officers violated multiple policies, including using excessive force, failing to intervene and failing to render aid.
Crump said the video reminded him of the landmark video of Los Angeles police beating King in 1991, sparking violent protests and reforms in the department.
“Regrettably, it reminded us of (the) Rodney King video,” said Crump, who previously represented the families of George Floyd and Trayvon Martin. “Regrettably, unlike Rodney King, Tyre didn’t survive.”
The last words heard on the video were Nichols calling for his mother three times, Crump said.
“He was less than 80 yards (73 meters) away when they murdered him. Yes, I say murder,” said Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells.
People who knew Nichols said he was an accomplished skateboarder who had recently enrolled in a photography class and came home to his mother during his lunch break from his job at FedEx.
“My son didn’t do no drugs. He didn’t carry no guns. He didn’t like confrontation. None of that. That’s why this is so hard,” she said.
Memphis police on Friday identified officers involved in the case as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr., and Justin Smith. Each had served with the department about 2-1/2 to 5 years.
A photo of a bloodied, intubated Nichols released to the public helped fuel multiple days of protests and calls of “Justice for Tyre” in Memphis, a city of 630,000 that is 65% Black.