Tyre Nichols video: Memphis authorities release footage from deadly traffic stop. Tyre Nichols, 29, died three days after Memphis prosecutors say police brutally beat him following a traffic stop. Memphis authorities have released police bodycam footage from a Jan. 7 traffic stop that preceded the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, who spent three days in the hospital before succumbing to his injuries, according to authorities.
The first video released shows an officer pulling up to a stop in progress around 8:24 p.m. Police can be heard ordering Nichols to get out of the car, using profanities. “I didn’t do anything,” Nichols says, as officers yank him out of the driver’s seat. He appears calm at first, as they order him to get on the ground. Seated with his back to the car, he looks at police, and says slowly, “Stop.”
“OK, all right,” he continues, as an officer aims a Taser at him. They repeatedly order him to lay down, then to turn around and to put his hands behind his back. “You guys are really doing a lot right now,” Nichols says. “I’m just trying to go home.”
He doesn’t appear to respond to the order to lay on his stomach, and is shown on his side when an officer uses what appears to be pepper spray. At that point, Nichols appears to struggle out of the officers’ grip and get to his feet, running off as they discharge a stun gun.
At around 8:26 p.m., according to a timestamp on the video, he pulls off his shirt and takes off running.
By 8:33, two other bodycams show officers tackling Nichols at another intersection. One bodycam appears to fall off, and the screen shows fuzzy darkness for several minutes before an officer picks it up and can be heard saying, “He on something.”
Another officer’s camera shows him running up as the struggle continues, with two men on top of Nichols, demanding he give them his hands repeatedly.