Is there a video before he’s pulled out of the car? Why were guns drawn on him before this occurred?
Because they’re cops.
Do you have a video of what happened prior to the guns drawn? It’s a straight forward question.
I’ve only seen the videos released. I also was wondering why the entire encounter hasn’t been released. Was there not footage at that point?
The Police Chief said they didn’t have evidence to show cause for pulling him over. The first question to start with was why they had guns drawn.
Sounds like a good question to ask the cops. But they’ve been fired and charged with murder, so I suppose they’re dummying up.
Memphis PD Chief, per yesterday’s NBC News:
"We have not been able to substantiate the cause of the stop, the violation. The only thing that we have right now is the officer saying that Mr. Nichols was driving recklessly, initially on the wrong side of the road,” she told NBC News’ Tom Llamas Friday morning.
“My staff, I asked them to pull all of the video that they can find in the area … and we were unable to find that and we were unable to get that captured on body worn camera as well from the initial officer,” she explained.
~Max
They would have filled out reports as a function of their job so they can dummy up all they want. It’s already on paper.
But it sounds like the Chief of Police reviewed dash cams of the events leading up to what I’ve seen referred to as the first video (the one with their guns drawn demanding he gets down on the pavement).
their commands in the first video are not specific. continueing to yell “get down on the ground” when you’re already on the ground is not specific enough. If they wanted him face down with his arms spread then that is specific. Otherwise they’ve created a situation where he’s failed to read their mind and needs to be subdued.
Thanks, looks like we have no idea. This does not help the police, clearly.
I do think they need better training starting with what their mission actually is and how they treat the supects and the public in general. Remember back in 2015 when a few Swedish cops stopped a crime on a subway in New York? There were four Swedes who broke up a fight between two people. Two of the Swedes restrained one man who was having difficulty calming down, but they didn’t beat him, they reassured him the whole time that he was going to be fine, they explained they couldn’t let him go until the police arrived, and they inquired as to whether the man had any injuries. i.e. They seemed to be genuinely concerned about this guy’s well being.
Odesio’s example is exactly what is needed in training tactics. It’s not just de-escalation, it’s a methodology. Each situation needs to go through a process of evaluation for the best course of action.
Call me cynical, but I don’t believe cops who would beat someone to death to tell the truth on a report.
Yes but cameras don’t lie. If their written reports don’t align with the cameras then they will be exposed in court. I’m a huge proponent of dash and body cams because they protect the innocent and expose the guilty.
They are great to have. I’m surprised that officers who are aware (obviously) their actions are being recorded still feel they can do stuff like this.
And there was a lot of stuff that, somehow, their cameras didn’t show.
Personally, I’d like to see a policy that if a citizen ever files a complaint against a police officer, and the officer doesn’t have body camera coverage of the event, then that should be taken as prima facia evidence of the truth of the complaint. Camera “malfunctioning”? Then you’d better get it fixed before you go out on beat.
Oh, and to forestall the objection that cameras are too expensive for all cops to carry one, we also need to find, fire, and probably arrest all of the officials who are getting kickbacks from the companies that make the cameras. The figure I’ve heard quoted is $10,000 for each officer’s body cams, and kickbacks are the only possible reason for the price to be that high.
I was watching body cam footage in one of my cases. THe officers were pretty sloppy with some evidence (negligent, not malicious) The seasoned officer was correcting them. The negligent officer said something like “I should probably turn my camera off.” The older guy said, “I’m leaving mine on.” (none of this mattered in my case, but it was fascinating to see them work through the repercussions of being on tape)
Yup, what seemed astonishing to me was 3 or 4 cops who already had him on the ground just seemed to have no clue how to fully restrain Nichols safely. It appears that Nichols was freaked out and didn’t immediately just submit and relax, but that’s surely within the range of normal human behavior under these circumstances, something that professionals should know how to deal with. He may have been wriggling, but he didn’t present any threat to them other than through the bullshit “he went for my gun” which several trained professionals working together can surely eliminate as a possibility. It’s not as though he’s a 300lb guy on a PCP rampage.
Of course, the greater problem was that lacking any safe technique they decided that beating the shit out of him was a valid alternative.
But there seem to be big problems here both with the psychology and the physical techniques.
A lot of cops think they can get away with anything due to “qualified immunity.”
And unless someone actually dies, it’s unlikely that the video will be released. I’m sure that they’ve beaten and brutalized a number of the citizens they are sworn and paid to protect before this.