The traffic stop in question happened on Saturday, January 7 in Memphis. Tyre Nichols, the driver, was stopped, pulled out of his car, wrestled with police and then ran. He wound up being chased and beaten by police officers with such force that he was sent to the hospital where he died from his injuries a few days later. The video of that traffic stop is going to be released this afternoon and law enforcement around the country are warning that what people will see in the video is very bad and could lead to violent protests.

Let’s start with what Memphis police chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said and we’ll work backwards from there. She said the video contained “acts that defy humanity” and “a disregard for life.” “I don’t think I’ve witnessed anything of that nature in my entire career,” she said.

The police chief of Memphis who saw the body cam footage of Tyre Nichols' murder describes what she saw as "acts that defy humanity" and a "disregard for life."

This is a much different change of pace from previous incidents of police brutality. pic.twitter.com/hniYJPTfIc

— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) January 27, 2023

Here’s more on what happened according to the Shelby County District Attorney:

During the initial altercation involving several officers, pepper spray was deployed, and Nichols ran, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said at a Thursday news conference.

Nichols got away, but the officers “found him again at another location and at that point there was an amount of aggression that is unexplainable,” he said.

“There was another altercation at a nearby location at which the serious injuries were experienced by Mr. Nichols,” Mulroy continued. “After some period of time of waiting around afterward, he was taken away by an ambulance.”

“I heard him call out for his mother, for his mom,” Davis said, referring to the video. “Just the disregard for humanity … That’s what really pulls at your heartstrings and makes you wonder: Why was a sense of care and concern for this individual just absent from the situation by all who went to the scene?”

One of the issues in this case is that police haven’t been able to identify and justification for the traffic stop in the first place. The official reason was “reckless driving” but the cameras don’t seem to show any reckless driving on Nichols’ part. “We’ve looked at cameras, we’ve looked at body-worn cameras, even if something occurred prior to this stop, we’ve been unable to substantiate that at this time,” Chief Davis said.

Five officers involved in the arrest, all of them black, have all been fired. Yesterday they were charged with second-degree murder:

Five Memphis police officers were charged on Thursday with second-degree murder for the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, after a traffic stop that escalated into what the authorities have described as a display of staggering brutality…

A grand jury returned indictments on Thursday against the five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — with charges that include kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression, in addition to second-degree murder, prosecutors said. The officers, all of whom are Black, were fired last week.

“The actions of all of them resulted in the death of Tyre Nichols, and they are all responsible,” Steven J. Mulroy, the district attorney for Memphis, told reporters on Thursday.

Getting back to the reactions of those who’ve seen the video, the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said he was “shocked.”

“I’m shocked, I’m sickened by what I saw and what we learned through our investigation,” he added. “Let me be clear, what happened here does not reflect proper policing. This was wrong, this was criminal.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray has seen the video and said it was “appalling.” Family attorney Ben Crump, who has been involved in so many of these cases, released a video Monday of Tyre skateboarding. This and photography were apparently his hobbies.

This is who Tyre Nichols was — a talented and dedicated skateboarder with SO much life left to live… He didn’t deserve to be tragically taken from his family and community! We will continue to fight for accountability for you Tyre! #JusticeForTyreNichols pic.twitter.com/hYwMnRRZEA

— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) January 23, 2023

For their part, Tyre Nichols’ family is calling for peace.

Tyre Nichols’ stepfather, Rodney Wells, said at a news conference Friday that he’s “very satisfied with the charges” against the five police officers, including second-degree murder…

“We want peace. We do not want any type of uproar,” he said.

Wells added, “The family is very satisfied with the process, with the police chief, the D.A. They acted very, very quickly in this case. We are very, very pleased with that. Other cases drag on, but this is a special case. We had a special son.”

Meanwhile, police in Dallas and as far away as Los Angeles and Seattle are preparing for any protests that might happen tonight or this weekend.

The Los Angeles Police Department is “closely monitoring what is going on in the county and is prepared for any situation that might arise,” said Tony Im, a LAPD spokesperson.

In Seattle, Det. Judinna Gulpan said the police department “is planning, preparing, and staffing to provide public safety throughout the city should police resources be needed.”

The Denver Police Department said it “is monitoring for any potential demonstration activity in Denver, and will adjust resources if or as needed.”

As I write this the release of the video is still about 90 minutes away. I’ll add it below once it’s out.

Update: Mayor Adams just released this announcement calling for peace.

As a human being, I am devastated. As a mayor, I am outraged. And as someone who spent decades fighting for police diversity and against police abuse, I feel betrayed.

My heart goes out to Tyre Nichols’ family, friends and the people of Memphis. pic.twitter.com/HwHT40WeU4

— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) January 27, 2023

The city of Memphis has now posted four videos on Vimeo. This first clip is from a bodycam and appears to show the first part of the encounter. We see them pull him out of his car and about two minutes into this clip Tyre gets away as police try to tase him. These officers didn’t go after him so there’s nothing more in this clip.

Video #2 is a pole mounted camera. There’s no audio with this one. It lasts for about 30 minutes. You can see pretty clearly in this clip that at least one officer is punching him in the head while the other officers hold him. I count at least five punches. Then at least two officers come over to kick him as he’s face down in the street. At that point I can’t tell if he’s conscious. They drag him over against a car.

This third clip is another bodycam video which appears to be from an officer who joined the chase after Tyre ran for it in the clip above. He’s on the ground and being pepper sprayed. Police then stand him up and one of them is punching him.

Finally the fourth clip is another body camera video. Again this starts with a chase but for several minutes the camera goes black. Later on, Tyre is slumped against a car. Police are saying that Tyre is “high as a kite” and you see him slump over. Earlier he seemed pretty with it. At this point maybe he’s concussed from the punches? He’s seems barely conscious.

One of the officers says he grabbed for another officer’s gun. He also claims that Tyre swung at him as soon as they took him out of the car. Video #1 shows him being pulled out of the car. The police are clearly angry but I can’t see a punch being thrown at them. Even if it was, it didn’t justify beating him repeatedly while his hands were held.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more about this case in the next few days.