5 Memphis cops fired after suspect killed

[maroonandwhite]

Yeah I told my wife to not even watch what’s being shown on the news.

[bubbadavis]

Just now, maroonandwhite said:

Yeah I told my wife to not even watch what’s being shown on the news.

Good advice - I'm going to steal this strategy and tell my wife the same.

[Scotty]

Ditto. Did the same. No need to ruin her night. Poured the lady a glass of wine and I went out to let the dog run. 
 

Actions have consequences, bury them under the jail. 

[RED333]

I am not going to watch 5 guys beat to death another human being, just not doing it. I will continue to pray for the family for some kind of peace.

Edited January 28, 2023 by RED333
Because I can

[Grayfox54]

I watched all 4 videos released on the City website. The people I saw didn't look like Police officers. They may have been wearing the uniform and driving the cars, but these were not Police officers. What I saw was a group of disorganized, incompetent thugs trying unsuccessfully to restrain one skinny dude. Failing that, they beat the poor guy into submission. There was absolutely nothing  professional about them. 

Case in point. One guy has Nichols in a wrist lock while another is screaming "Give me your hands!" There was little to no teamwork there. 

The whole thing was wrong right from the start. They never gave Nichols a chance to exit the car. Instead, they opened the door and drug him out. It just got worse from there. 

IDK, maybe I'm just too jaded. What I saw was a clear case of Police brutality, but I didn't find it "shocking" or "horrifying" as it was claimed to be. Just me I guess. 

[Links2k]

1 minute ago, Grayfox54 said:

 

The whole thing was wrong right from the start. They never gave Nichols a chance to exit the car. Instead, they opened the door and drug him out. It just got worse from there. 

IDK, maybe I'm just too jaded. What I saw was a clear case of Police brutality, but I didn't find it "shocking" or "horrifying" as it was claimed to be. Just me I guess. 

On the 4th video the one guy lies and states Nichols came out of his vehicle swinging. He was jerked out at gun point. 

[Grayfox54]

Watching the local news. Downtown Memphis is practically a ghost town. No protesters, but not the usual Friday night crowd either. Many places are closed.  Just a few folks here and there. I guess everybody is playing it safe.

One large crowd of protesters has walked up on the I-55 Mississippi River bridge and has stopped traffic both ways. They aren't being unruly or violent. In fact they're pretty quite. But they are making their point. 

So far, no serious problems at all. 

Edited January 28, 2023 by Grayfox54

[Capbyrd]

46 minutes ago, bubbadavis said:

I've only seen a few lowlights but MacGyver is right: it is awful. I've seen enough and have no desire to watch any more. 

I can't image a trial will go well for any of them. All the prosecutor has to do is show the body cam and helicopter video.

To my knowledge, there was no helicopter up that night.  The “aerial” footage is from a pole mounted camera known as sky cop. 

[MacGyver]

5 minutes ago, Capbyrd said:

To my knowledge, there was no helicopter up that night.  The “aerial” footage is from a pole mounted camera known as sky cop. 

There’s some irony that their very sky camera will send them to prison.

They’re clearly aware of their cams.  Some of the audio of them getting their story straight is illustrative.  And maybe that’s the key takeaway. If this young man hadn’t died - we wouldn’t be seeing any of this.  These officers aren’t offended or ashamed of what they’ve done - it’s a normal day for them. 

[gregintenn]

18 minutes ago, Grayfox54 said:

Watching the local news. Downtown Memphis is practically a ghost town. No protesters, but not the usual Friday night crowd either. Many places are closed.  Just a few folks here and there. I guess everybody is playing it safe.

One large crowd of protesters has walked up on the I-55 Mississippi River bridge and has stopped traffic both ways. They aren't being unruly or violent. In fact they're pretty quite. But they are making their point. 

So far, no serious problems at all. 

Wouldn’t be a bad place to carry those 5 officers and dump them out. Let the community sort it out.

[Wheelgunner]

10 hours ago, Hozzie said:

To be honest, no one needs to see the video except the Prosecutors, jury, and family.   All showing it does is initiate the next killing of someone innocent, whether that be a person or cop.  

I have no desire to watch the video, but the freedom of others to make the video available for the public to watch serves an important purpose and is consistent with core principles of government by the people.

[Erik88]

28 minutes ago, MacGyver said:

These officers aren’t offended or ashamed of what they’ve done - it’s a normal day for them. 

The part where a few held him up while the other repeatedly punched him looked rehearsed. I would not be surprised if they have done this before. 

If they act this awful while wearing body cams it really makes me wonder what else happens off camera. Not just here, but across the country. 

 

[-boatman-]

I've been debating if I wanted to watch this or not. Y'all have made up my mind for me. I don't want to see it. 

[gregintenn]

Everybody needs to watch it. It’s your tax dollars at work.

[Alleycat72]

26 minutes ago, -boatman- said:

I've been debating if I wanted to watch this or not. Y'all have made up my mind for me. I don't want to see it. 

I've seen people get an azz whipping like this and live, but looks can be deceiving. All it takes is one hit in the wrong spot and you're done. If they were gang bangers, people wouldn't bat an eye. It's the fact that it's police that makes it disturbing. There are way worse videos in the world, but killing the person/people is the whole point. This is America and we are above all of that. That's what we tell ourselves anyway.

[Grayfox54]

I seems that around 9:00 pm the protesters moved off the bridge. They marched a little around downtown and made their way back to the park where they originally gathered. Now they've gone home. However, they did say that they will be back tomorrow and the next day as long as they are needed. 

One interesting note: the video showed many of them were carrying professionally printed signs saying things like "Jail Killer Cops" and something about Police terrorist.  At the bottom in smaller print it read "Party of Socialism and Liberation". I have no idea what that's all about or what it might mean.  But it don't sound good.  Out of town instigators maybe? 

[btq96r]

Haven't watched it yet, but will sometime this weekend.  I feel compelled to bear witness in a strange way.

We'll continue to have the conversation in America about what people feel when they see a cop...their rights and safety being protected, or a danger to their liberties and person.  Would that these five officers didn't give us more to consider the worse of that answer. 

Hoping rage doesn't win the next few nights.  The family of the victim certainly made their appeal for catharsis without the need for fire and blood.

[Daniel]

4 hours ago, MacGyver said:

It’s awful.

I’d encourage people to use some discretion in even watching it.

It’s hard to imagine them not being convicted of murder. 

I watched an edited blurred beeped 1:30 second clip on AP News and that was enough for me.  

[Capbyrd]

16 hours ago, Grayfox54 said:

That's the basic problem with this case. Lots of rumors, but very little facts. 

And those rumors and conjecture don’t contribute to the discussion, at this point.   I think a lot of people are trying to spread these “whys” to justify why people they generally seem to respect or “back” or support would do something like this.  And in my mind it distracts us from the fact that it did happen.  The why doesn’t matter.  They were driving MPD vehicles, getting paid by MPD and wearing MPD uniforms.  They represent not just Memphis but police officers nationwide.  We are a developed, supposedly free, nation.  Our law enforcement officials should never act in this manner, reasons be damned.  
 

If Tyre was sleeping with one of their girls, does it change anything?   They used their position of authority to take a man’s life.  That’s the point of this.  The why doesn’t change that for me.  

Edited January 28, 2023 by Capbyrd

[RED333]

5 hours ago, Grayfox54 said:

At the bottom in smaller print it read "Party of Socialism and Liberation". I have no idea what that's all about or what it might mean.  But it don't sound good.  Out of town instigators maybe?

George Soros and his commie ways, what a POS!!!

[Capbyrd]

Memphis did not burn last night.  Regardless of your issues with any signage, or where they protested, the bridge protest was peaceful.  
 

the rest of the city lost their minds.  There was a lot of vandalism and burglary by opportunists.   They weren't carrying signs or chanting.  It was the same people who are always burgling and vandaling taking advantage of the climate to make their city worse.   
 

But overall, I’m proud of my city so far.  The days to come could be very different though so I just pray for level heads to prevail. 
 

 

I should also say, I’ve never seen a police brutality thread on this forum where almost no one defends the police.  I don’t know if it speaks to the general attitude of the forum changing or the specifics of this thread.  But it is definitely new.   

Edited January 28, 2023 by Capbyrd

[maroonandwhite]

1 hour ago, Capbyrd said:

Memphis did not burn last night.  Regardless of your issues with any signage, or where they protested, the bridge protest was peaceful.  
 

the rest of the city lost their minds.  There was a lot of vandalism and burglary by opportunists.   They were carrying signs or chanting.  It was the same people who are always burgling and vandaling taking advantage of the climate to make their city worse.   
 

But overall, I’m proud of my city so far.  The days to come could be very different though so I just pray for level heads to prevail. 
 

 

I should also say, I’ve never seen a police brutality thread on this forum where almost no one defends the police.  I don’t know if it speaks to the general attitude of the forum changing or the specifics of this thread.  But it is definitely new.   

Hopefully this doesn’t come across as combative because it isn’t meant to be at all.  
My overall support / defense / etc. for good cops hasn’t changed. That said, I don’t see much to defend here. 

As another member posted, these guys just looked like dudes who happened to be wearing a police uniform.

I too was proud to see how Memphis handled last night overall.  Hopefully no outsiders come in and stir up the masses. 

[Erik88]

5 hours ago, Capbyrd said:

And those rumors and conjecture don’t contribute to the discussion, at this point.

The only reason I'm curious about this now is because the entire thing looked more like a preplanned hit, than a legal traffic stop. We never saw any proof of wreckless driving. As soon as he pulls over, they immediately went to violence and yanked him out of the vehicle. I never even heard them identify themselves and state why he was stopped.  Tyre was the only one trying to deescalate the situation until I think he realized he was in serious danger. I don't blame him for running away. 

If there is more to the story I'm confident MPD will get to the bottom of it and upgrade charges as needed. I feel like the kidnapping charges are proof that MPD agrees this was not a legal stop to begin with. 

[Capbyrd]

9 minutes ago, maroonandwhite said:

Hopefully this doesn’t come across as combative because it isn’t meant to be at all.  
My overall support / defense / etc. for good cops hasn’t changed. That said, I don’t see much to defend here. 

As another member posted, these guys just looked like dudes who happened to be wearing a police uniform.

I too was proud to see how Memphis handled last night overall.  Hopefully no outsiders come in and stir up the masses. 

Not combative at all.  And I wasn’t singling anyone out.  But generally in these type situations there is a lot of trying to defend officers.  People trying to point out a criminal history of the victim or finding pictures that make them look bad.  Asking to wait until we see the video and giving them the benefit of the doubt.  There just wasn’t as much of that this time.  Maybe because there wasn’t anything to find about Tyre.  Not just here but it seems everywhere the general attitude towards this has been that it was VERY VERY bad from the start.  And again, I don’t know if that’s because of an overall shift in attitudes or because everyone could just tell that this was wrong from the jump. 

[maroonandwhite]

1 minute ago, Capbyrd said:

Not combative at all.  And I wasn’t singling anyone out.  But generally in these type situations there is a lot of trying to defend officers.  People trying to point out a criminal history of the victim or finding pictures that make them look bad.  Asking to wait until we see the video and giving them the benefit of the doubt.  There just wasn’t as much of that this time.  Maybe because there wasn’t anything to find about Tyre.  Not just here but it seems everywhere the general attitude towards this has been that it was VERY VERY bad from the start.  And again, I don’t know if that’s because of an overall shift in attitudes or because everyone could just tell that this was wrong from the jump. 

My guess is the latter.  I can’t think of a situation like this in my lifetime that has been handled the way this one has across the different parties involved. Due process will be had of course but the police, city, local news networks, etc. spared no language calling this what it is from the start.