January 7th, Tyre Nichols was beaten by five Memphis police officers, putting him in the hospital to eventually die three days later. An occurrence that caused turmoil countrywide. Nichols was a 29-year-old man that had his whole life ahead of him. This situation was caused by the people we thought we could trust the most, the police. Tyre Nichols was one of the victims that did not survive police brutality.

That Saturday night Nichols was pulled over by police for alleged reckless driving, at approximately 8:30 pm. During the traffic stop, Nichols fought the detention from the officers. After aggressively pulling Nichols out of the car, the officers pursued on foot after he had gotten away. After catching up with him, the officers continued to taser and pepper spray Nichols. In the body cam footage, released by Memphis Police Department, you hear an officer say to Nichols, “Watch out. I’m going to baton the f*ck out of you.”  This is where the situation becomes unprofessional and extremely disturbing. The officer continued to beat on him, and eventually you can see one officer repeatedly kick Nichols in the head. In the same footage released by the Memphis Police Department you can hear Nichols scream out, “Mom, Mom”, in hopes that his mother would hear him from down the street. At that point, Nichols had suffered severe head injuries. The officers left Nichols laying on the ground, trying his best to stay alive.

After the beatings had stopped and medics were called , the officers gathered together to debrief. In the body cam footage, an officer says, “Remember, your cameras on.” This makes it seem as if the officers know that they are guilty of speaking those disgusting words that Saturday night. The officers on scene were Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Matin lll, Desmond Mills Jr, and Justin Smith. As of now, all the officers listed have been fired.  The officers were also charged with second degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression.

The Memphis Police Department is receiving extreme backlash from this situation. It’s a situation that has caused a distrust within the community. How are we supposed to feel safe when there are Police officers that do this? Tyre Nichols should have absolutely been treated differently. Due to unreliable officers that made wrong decisions, Tyre Nichols died three days later in the hospital.