‘Horrific’ video shows Afro-American man beating by US police

Police in the US city of Memphis on Friday evening released a painful video showing Tyre Nichols, 29, being severely beaten by police officers, which later led to his death.

Five Memphis police officers, all African-American, were charged with second-degree murder in the case of their beating of Tyre Nichols, who died in hospital on Jan. 10, three days after his arrest, which authorities described as “horrific.”

On January 7, police wanted to arrest Nichols for a traffic violation. A long video taken by police cameras and a street surveillance camera shows officers arresting Nichols, trying to pin him with a razor and then chasing him after he tries to flee.

Footage shows Nichols screaming and calling out to his mother and moaning as officers repeatedly kicked and punched him.

At a news conference earlier on Friday, Nichols’smother, Ruvon Wells, called for calm, but addressed the officers who beat her son “to death”, saying: “You have shamed your families with your act.”

In downtown Memphis, about 50 protesters gathered in Martyrs’ Central Park and later blocked a main thoroughfare and marched “No justice, no peace” and “Say his name: Tyre Nichols.”

About 100 people gathered in Times Square in New York, chanting similar slogans and raised signs reading “End police terrorism.”

Since the incident, the five officers have been removed from their duties and jailed on Thursday for murder after Nichols’ death.

Lawyer Antonio Romanucci, described the encounter as “an unadulterated, unabashed, non-stop beating of this young boy for three minutes.”

The case caused a stir in a country still affected by the killing of George Floyd in May 2020 and the Black Lives Matter protests against racism and police violence.

Nichols’ case has rekindled the debate over police violence in the country.

E.M