How was TYRE Nichols killed?
Nichols suffered “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to preliminary results of an autopsy commissioned by attorneys for his family.
“We can state that preliminary findings indicate Tyre suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating, and that his observed injuries are consistent with what the family and attorneys witnessed on the video of his fatal encounter with police on January 7, 2023,” attorney Benjamin Crump said in a statement.
Family and attorneys have seen footage of the incident
CNN has obtained portions of the police scanner audio leading up to Nichols’ arrest. Portions of the audio are inaudible, but you can hear a brief part of the conversation between an officer and the dispatcher.
An officer can be heard saying, “We got one Black male running” and giving instructions to “run that car registration tag and see what’s the address” followed by what sounds like Nichols in distress.
It’s not clear where this audio fits in the sequence of the incident or which officer is speaking.
Family attorneys did watch the video on Monday and described it as “heinous.” Nichols was tased, pepper-sprayed and restrained, Crump said, and compared it to the Los Angeles Police beating of Rodney King in 1991.
Crump described the video as “appalling,” “deplorable” and “heinous.” He said Wells, Nichols’ mother, was unable to get through viewing the first minute of the footage after hearing Nichols ask, “What did I do?” At the end of the footage, Nichols can be heard calling for his mother three times, the attorney said.
Nichols fled from the police, according to Rodney Wells, his stepfather, because he was afraid.
“Our son ran because he was scared for his life,” Rodney Wells said Monday. “He did not run because he was trying to get rid of no drugs, no guns, no any of that. He ran because he was scared for his life. And when you see the video, you will see why he was scared for his life.”
Nichols’ family wants the officers charged with murder, family attorney Romanucci told CNN’s Erin Burnett Wednesday evening.
Video footage of the incident will be released sometime after 6 p.m. CT on Friday, Mulroy said Thursday during a press conference.
“A lot of the people’s questions about what exactly happened will, of course, be answered once people see the video,” Mulroy told CNN’s Laura Coates on Tuesday night, noting he believes the city will release enough footage to show the “entirety of the incident, from the very beginning to the very end.”
