SCORPION Unit 'permanently deactivated' after Tyre Nichols death

The five former officers charged in the incident were in the unit.

ByMeredith Deliso, Emily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, and Nadine El-Bawab
Last Updated: January 29, 2023, 9:28 PM EST

Officials in Memphis, Tennessee, released dramatic body camera footage Friday of the fatal confrontation between Tyre Nichols and five police officers.

Nichols can be heard screaming "mom" several times during the gut-wrenching clips, which appear to show officers beating and pepper-spraying him after he ran from a traffic stop arrest.

Nichols died at the age of 29 on Jan. 10, three days after the violent confrontation.

The five Memphis Police Department officers involved in his arrest -- Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith -- were fired and then charged with second-degree murder in connection with Nichols' death.

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Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Jan 27, 2023, 10:24 AM EST

Nichols' family reacts to bodycam footage

After viewing the body camera footage Monday morning along with their attorney, Nichols' family said they saw the police kick, pepper spray and use a stun gun on their son all while Nichols repeatedly asked, "What did I do?"

"They handcuffed him and set him -- propped him up on the car. And as he fell over they'd tell him, 'Sit back up,'" Rodney Wells, Nichols' stepfather, told ABC News earlier this week. "You know, and he would slump back over again and they would make him sit back up. They never rendered any aid."

Nichols' mother, Rowvaughn Wells, told ABC News that she could not watch the entire video.

"Once the video started and I heard my son's voice, I lost it. I couldn't stay in the room. All I heard him say was, 'What did I do?' And once I heard that, I lost it," she said.

An independent autopsy, completed by a forensic pathologist hired by the family's attorneys, found that Nichols suffered from "extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating," according to the family.

Jan 27, 2023, 10:22 AM EST

Timing of body camera footage release

The city plans to publicly release the body camera footage of Nichols' arrest sometime after 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said.

"As we have said all along, we wanted to ensure the proper legal steps were followed and that the family of Mr. Nichols had the opportunity to view the video footage privately before we released it to the public," Strickland said in a statement Thursday night.

"It is clear that these officers violated the department's policies and training. But we are doing everything we can to prevent this from happening again," he continued, noting the city is initiating an independent review of the specialized units' training, policies and operations.