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Memphis authorities have released four videos 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.
The brutal encounter led to the firing of five Memphis police officers, who now face numerous charges, including murder. And hours after the department released the videos, Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. announced that he was relieving two deputies of duty and launching an internal investigation of his own.
The videos begin after a police stop involving Nichols has already been initiated. An officer arrives to assist.
"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.
He can be heard calling out for his mother, but does not appear to allow the officers to place him in cuffs.
They deploy pepper spray, which then sends one officer reeling, apparently after he became struck with it as well, and he backs off for a few minutes before returning with a baton.
"Watch out, I'ma baton the f--- out you," he says as he returns to the scuffle, with officers still holding Nichols.
For several seconds he repeats "Give us your hands!" Nichols looks limp or in a daze, and another officer can be seen punching him in the face.
The camera above appears to show officers punching, kicking and striking Nichols with a baton multiple times.
By around 8:37, they finally get off of him, and he is shown handcuffed on the ground, writhing. Police pull him over to the side of a car and lean him against it, and around 3 minutes later medics appear to begin treating his injuries.
At around 8:42, two officers among a group in the intersection indicate that Nichols may have tried to grab a gun.
"We tried to get him to stop," an officer can be heard saying. "He didn’t stop."
He claims that he tried the sirens and repeatedly ordered Nichols to stop to no avail. None of the video released Friday includes any actions that indicate why police made the initial stop.