5 Former US Cops Charged With Murder Over Death Of 29-Year-Old Man In Tennessee

The 29-year-old black man Tyre Nichols identified as is said to have endured a three-minute attack in Tennessee. The five accused ex-officers in the case are all black and were fired last week.

New Delhi: Five former police officers in the United States are in custody, facing murder charges in connection with the death of a Black motorist identified as Tyre Nichols in Tennessee's Memphis. Tyre Nichols, 29, died three days after a 7 January traffic stop spiralled into a fatal physical assault, The Guardian reported citing local jail records. It was reported that online records of Shelby county sheriff’s office showed Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III, and Justin Smith as being in custody.

The five accused have been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression.

“While each of the five individuals played a different role in the incident in question, the actions of all of them resulted in the death of Tyre Nichols and they are all responsible,” Steve Mulroy, the Shelby county district attorney, said during a press conference on Thursday, as per The Guardian's report.

David Rausch, director of the Tennessee bureau of investigation, also said: “Let me be clear: What happened here does not, at all, reflect proper policing.”

“This was wrong. This was a crime,” Rausch said, as quoted in the report.

The 29-year-old endured a three-minute attack, the Shelby county district attorney said. An attorney representing his family was reported as saying that an independent autopsy suggested that he “suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating”.

“He was a human piñata for those police officers,” family attorney Antonio Romanucci told reporters. “Not only was it violent, it was savage,” he added, as per The Guardian.

The report mentioned that police officials initially termed the incident as a “confrontation” that took place when officers came toward Nichols’s vehicle and then another “confrontation” after his arrest.

The five former officers accused in the case are all Black and were fired last week. Memphis police officials stated that the officers flouted “multiple department policies, including excessive use of force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid”, The Guardian reported.

Other officers are also being probed for possible policy violations. The authorities also said they would release a video of the incident. 

This chilling recording, viewed by Nichols's family members and their attorneys, showed that he “called repeatedly for his mother” throughout the brutal assault that took place about 100 yards from his mother’s home, family representatives said, as per the report.

Speaking to the media, family attorney Romanucci stated that officers pepper-sprayed Nichols, used a stun – gun and restrained him. Family representatives were reported saying that Nichols said he just wanted to return home.