The medical examiner’s report on Tire Nichols’ death found that the Memphis man had a blood alcohol level of 0.49, which is below the legal limit, when he was stopped by police.
The report also found that Nichols died of “died of brain injury from blunt trauma,” reports ABC news. The full report will be released to the public shortly.
The five Memphis police officers who were videotaped beating and groping Nichols in January have been fired and charged with manslaughter. They pleaded not guilty.
The shocking video of Nichols’ beating showed officers savagely beating Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx employee, for three minutes while yelling profanities at him in an attack that the Nichols family’s legal team has likened to the infamous 1991 Los Angeles police beating. Angeles motorist Rodney King.
In the wake of Wednesday’s development, Nichols’ mother has said she never felt her son was intoxicated at the time he was apprehended. He also had traces of marijuana in his body.
The footage shows police savagely beating Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx employee, for three minutes as she yells abuse at him
Row Vaughn Wells, Tire Nichols’ mother, claimed her son was not drunk at the time of his death
In the video, officers can be heard saying that Nichols was “as high as a kite.”
“The legal team representing the Tire Nichols family acknowledges the release of the medical examiner’s report, the content of which is highly consistent with our own reporting in January of this year. We know now what we knew then,” attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci said in a statement.
“Tyre Nichols died of blunt force trauma and the manner of death was homicide. The official autopsy report is further motivation for our commitment to seeking justice for this senseless tragedy.”
The shocking video saw Nichols calling for his mother before his limp body was propped against a patrol car and the officers exchanged punches.
Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, said at the time of the video’s release that the family would “continue to seek justice,” noting that several other officers failed to assist, making them “as guilty as the officers who clap.’
The arrest was made by the so-called Scorpion Unit, which has three teams of about 30 street cops who target violent offenders in areas plagued by high crime. The unit has since been disbanded.
An officer in the video accused Nichols of swerving as if he intended to hit an officer’s car.
The officer said when Nichols stopped at a red light, the officers jumped out of the car.
“We tried to get him to stop,” the officer lamented. “He didn’t stop.”
Officers also initially said Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving, but there is no evidence to support those claims.
After the first officer roughly pulls Nichols out of a car, Nichols can be heard saying, “I didn’t do anything,” as a group of officers begin to wrestle him to the ground.
An officer is heard yelling, “Tase him! Touch him!’
Nichols calmly says, “OK, I’m on the floor.”
“You’re doing a lot right now,” says Nichols. “I’m just trying to go home.”
“Stop, I’m not doing anything!” he calls a little later.
Nichols also initially complies with the officers’ requests, though he is confused by their animosity towards him and lays down on the floor as said while the police try to handcuff him. It is unclear whether he has been in contact with any of the officers involved before.
Nichols can then be seen running after an officer who fires a taser at him. His mother’s house, where he lived, was only a few houses away from the scene of the assault, and his family said he tried to get there. The agents then begin to chase Nichols.
According to the coroner’s report, Nichols had traces of marijuana in his body
Other officers are called and a search ensues before Nichols is caught at another intersection. The officers beat him with a baton, kicked and beat him and sprayed him with pepper spray.
Security camera footage shows three officers surrounding Nichols as he lies cornered in the street between police cars, with a fourth officer nearby.
Two officers hold Nichols to the ground as he walks around, and then the third appears to kick him in the head. Nichols sinks more fully to the curb with all three officers around him. The same cop kicks him again.
The fourth officer then walks over, draws a baton and holds it at shoulder level while two officers hold Nichols upright, as if he were sitting.
“I’m going to beat the hell out of you,” you hear a cop say. His body camera shows him raising his baton with at least one other officer holding Nichols. The officer hits Nichols on the back three times in a row with the baton.
The other officers then appear to hoist Nichols to his feet, with him flopping like a doll and barely able to stay upright.
An officer then punches him in the face, while the officer with the baton continues to punch him. Nichols trips and turns, still held up by two officers. The officer who hit him then walks over to Nichols’ front and hits him four more times. Then Nichols collapses.
Two officers can then be seen on top of Nichols on the ground for about 40 seconds, with a third close by. Three more officers rush over, and one can be seen kicking Nichols to the ground.
As Nichols crashes into a car, none of the officers offer assistance. The body camera footage shows one of them reaching down and tying his laces.
Court records showed that all five former officers – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith – had been taken into custody.
First-degree homicide is punishable by 15 to 60 years in prison under Tennessee law.