On Jan. 7, what was meant to be a peaceful traffic stop abruptly ended in the hospitalization and the death of civilian Tyre Nichols after a beating from the hands of seven police officers. 

“This is not just a professional failing,” “Cj” Davis, Memphis Police chief, said in regards to the situation. “This is a failing of basic humanity toward another individual. This incident was heinous, reckless, and inhumane.”

At approximately 8:00 p.m., Nichols was pulled over for “possible reckless driving.” An altercation ensued between Nichols and the police who pulled him over, and Nichols proceeded to flee on foot, leading to another violent altercation after officers apprehended him.

Nichols began complaining of shortness of breath, and was immediately taken to a hospital where – three days after the stop – he passed away due to injuries sustained from “use-of-force incident with officers,” according to the coroner’s report.

Five days after the incident, officers involved were relieved of duty as an official investigation began. As the investigation continued, those involved were fired for their failing “excessive use of force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid.” Eventually, all five officers were charged for various felonies.

These felonies included second degree murder, while multiple other officers were taken off duty and even fired due to their connection to the killing.

Footage from body cameras and a street camera show Nichols running away, a pursuit, and then the final altercation where Nichols was brutally beaten to the point of being unable to breathe and was then arrested. The footage was released Jan. 27, 17 days after the first incident.

After Nichols’ mother viewed the footage, she had to leave the room, unable to finish watching the incident when Nichols called out “what did I do?” Nichols’ also was said to have called for his mother multiple times during the beating.

“No father, mother should have to witness what I saw today,” Rodney Wells, Nichol’s stepfather, said after seeing the tape.

While the media has picked up this terrible story with a vengeance, many news corporations have been erring on the side of caution with what to do with the footage. Many believe that such footage is disturbing enough to warrant it not being released, as it may scar people..

Nichols’ death has sparked an outrage though Memphis and many other cities as the footage has been aired by one major news television station, CNN, after warning their audience of the graphic nature of the video. From this, protests have gained traction and spread across the country as more and more people hear of the violence that occurred.

Major cities such as New York City, Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland have been protesting alongside Memphis against police brutality and what happened to Tyre Nichols.

This is nothing new to America though; the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests were a huge contender for movement for the anti-police brutality campaign caused by the death of George Floyd. The difference, though, between that traffic stop and this one, is that all five of the police officers who killed Tyre Nichols were black, while it was white officers who killed George Floyd.

Although the idea that this traffic stop was racially motivated has been lessened by that fact, it does nothing to take away the widespread fear that police officers a) don’t have enough training to deal with high stress situations that shouldn’t involve violence, and b) the lack of both accountability of actions taken by cops.

Many call for changes in America’s police force as a whole. They believe that in order to create change in the United States, it would be more beneficial to take some money out of the $215 billion spent funding the police and redirect it to fund resources that support impoverished communities. 

Others call for a change in the department, a new resource to handle mental health situations, or situations that police handle that are non-violent. This is because many feel that police are not taught to handle mental health situations, and that stress of the overall job can cause the body to be set on overdrive. Because of this, police are more likely to react to a non-violent situation in violent ways.

Much like the situations with Tyre Nichols and George Floyd, both meant to be peaceful traffic stops.

In the end, as protests spread, Americans find themselves wondering if these demonstrations might end up like the riots from the protests in regards to George Floyd.