Everyone who has seen the footage of Tyre Nichols’ fatal encounter with five Memphis police officers has come to the same conclusion: something went horribly wrong that night.
Lawyers for his family said the officers acted like a “pack of wolves” and beat him “like a human pinata”.
Police Chief Cerelyn Davis, who is the first black woman to serve in the role, told the BBC she was shocked. “Something happened that we can’t explain,” she said.
The videos prompted the authorities to fire the five officers earlier this week, and then to charge them with offences including second-degree murder.
On Friday evening, the videos were released to the public. The footage did show the harrowing events that led to Mr Nichols’ death, but many questions still remain.
Why did police pull him over?
While the four videos contain over an hour of footage total, capturing multiple angles taken from police body cameras and a pole-mounted surveillance camera, one crucial element is missing: how did all this begin?
His family has said that Mr Nichols, an avid photographer, was out driving so he could take pictures of the sunset.
Officers initially said Mr Nichols was pulled over for alleged reckless driving, but police on Friday said there is no evidence to substantiate that claim.
The footage released only begins after police confront him at an intersection at 8:24pm local time – police say the initial traffic stop was not filmed but we don’t know why.
