Memphis Police Chief Tells CNN Tyre Nichols Arrest Video Will Show ‘Acts That Defy Humanity’

As Memphis Police prepare to release video of a traffic stop that led to the beating death of Tyre Nichols, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis told CNN the video shows “acts that defy humanity.”

On Thursday, five former Memphis police officers were charged with murder and other crimes related to the death of Nichols, a Black man who died three days after being stopped by officers who claimed Nichols had been driving recklessly. “They are all responsible,” said Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy. The officers, who are all Black, each face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

In a live interview Friday on CNN This Morning, Chief Davis told CNN’s Don Lemon that the video—which will be released Friday evening—shows “a disregard for life, a duty of care that we’re all sworn to, and a level of physical interaction that is above and beyond what is required in law enforcement.”

Davis told CNN she was “outraged” when she first saw the video, just hours after the traffic stop. Davis said she’d been alerted to the incident at 4 o’clock in the morning and was so concerned she went into her office to review the case. That’s when she saw what was captured on the officers’ body cameras, along with other cameras in the area of the traffic stop that captured the beating. “It was incomprehensible to me, it was unconscionable. And I felt that I needed to do something and so something quickly. I don’t think I’ve witnessed anything of that nature my entire career.”

Asked by Lemon about the fact that the officers in the case were Black, Davis says “it takes off the table that issues and problems in law enforcement is about race, and it’s not. It’s about human dignity, integrity, accountability, and the duty to protect our community.”

Lemon, who reported live from Memphis on Friday, also spoke with Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, who described seeing her son in the hospital after the beating. “They brought shame to the Black community,” Wells said of the officers. The family has yet to see the video, but their lawyer told CNN the video ends with Nichols crying out for his mother.