On Thursday, the Shelby County (Tennessee) District Attorney’s office, along with other local and federal authorities, held a press conference on the disturbing incident during an arrest involving five Memphis police officers, as CBS News and the Associated Press reported:
Five fired Memphis police officers were charged with second-degree murder in the death of Tyre Nichols, Tennessee authorities announced Thursday. Nichols died three days after a violent arrest by police earlier this month.
“This was wrong. This was criminal,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch said during a press conference announcing the charges.
A grand jury handed down indictments against Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith on charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said.
Mulroy said although the fired officers each played different roles in the death of Nichols, “they are all responsible.”
During the press conference, “Rausch said he saw the video and found it ‘absolutely appalling.'” Authorities added that video of the assault would be released Friday. Now, as promised, it has been–and it’s as awful as Rausch described.
Warning: the video below contains graphic and violent images.
Within the past hour, the White House also shared a new statement from President Joe Biden on the horrendous, body-cam video:
As with all breaking stories, community members are encouraged to provide further updates in the comments.