Family of Memphis man who died after traffic stop ask police to release video

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January 16, 2023

By Doha Madani, NBC News

Relatives of Tyre Nichols at a news conference in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday. (WMC)

The family of a Memphis, Tennessee, man who was hospitalized and died after a traffic stop by police are demanding the official release of body camera and security video of the encounter.

Tyre Nichols was taken to the hospital in critical condition after Memphis police officers stopped him for reckless driving on Jan. 7, the police department said in a statement the next day. Nichols died in the hospital three days later.

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the family, is asking for police to release video from the stop, saying in a statement that “all of the available information tells us that this was the tragic and preventable death of a young man.”

“Nobody should ever die from a simple traffic stop — the footage is the only way to discern the true narrative of why and how that happened to Tyre,” Crump said.

NBC details the family’s protest.

With the risk of police violence, prison, and other inequalities, many Black Americans wonder if they’re truly free at last.

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