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The Death of Tyre Nichols Police Video Is Released What We Know Timeline Who Was Tyre Nichols? 71 Commands in 13 Minutes

Visual Investigations

71Commands in 13 Minutes: Officers

Gave Tyre Nichols Impossible Orders
A Times analysis found that officers gave dozens of contradictory
and unachievable orders to Mr. Nichols. The punishment was
severe — and eventually fatal.

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By Robin Stein , Alexander Cardia and Natalie Reneau

Jan. 29, 2023 Updated 6:44 p.m. ET

Police officers unleashed a barrage of commands that were

confusing, conflicting and sometimes even impossible to obey, a
Times analysis of footage from Tyre Nichols’s fatal traffic stop
found. When Mr. Nichols could not comply — and even when he
managed to — the officers responded with escalating force.

The review of the available footage found that officers shouted at

least 71 commands during the approximately 13-minute period
before they reported over the radio that Mr. Nichols was officially
in custody. The orders were issued at two locations, one near Mr.
Nichols’s vehicle and the other in the area he had fled to and where
he would be severely beaten. The orders were often simultaneous
and contradictory. Officers commanded Mr. Nichols to show his
hands even as they were holding his hands. They told him to get on
the ground even when he was on the ground. And they ordered him
to reposition himself even when they had control of his body.

Experts say the actions of the Memphis police officers were an

egregious example of a longstanding problem in policing in which
officers physically punish civilians for perceived disrespect or
disobedience — sometimes called “contempt of cop.” The practice
was notoriously prevalent decades ago.

“It was far more rampant in the ’80s, when I started doing police
work, than it was in the ’90s or 2000s,” said Geoffrey Alpert, a
professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of
South Carolina. “Even before body cams, cops were getting more
professional and wouldn’t make it personal, like it seemed to be in
this case. This is just — it’s so far out of the norm.”

To mitigate the potential for escalation and confusion during police

encounters, today’s police training typically calls for a single officer
at the scene to issue clear and specific commands. It also requires
police officers to respond professionally and proportionately to any
perceived act of defiance.

But The Times’s review shows that the officers did the exact
opposite, over and over.

The available footage does not show any sign that the officers
present intervened to stop the aggressive use of force. If anything,
it shows the contrary.

At one point, footage captured an officer saying “I hope they stomp

his ass” after Mr. Nichols’s attempt to flee the scene.

A street camera captured Memphis police officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols. Desiree
Rios/The New York Times

When asked for comment on the officers’ conduct at the traffic

stop, a spokesperson from the Memphis Police Department said:
“All information that is available at this point has been released.
However, know that this investigation remains ongoing.” The
Memphis Police Association also said it could not comment
because of the ongoing investigation.

More on the Death of Tyre Nichols

A Complex Conversation : The five Memphis officers charged with the
murder of Tyre Nichols, a young Black man, are also Black, complicating
the anguish and the efforts at police reform .

Reactions: The release of video footage of the fatal encounter drew horror
and disgust from law enforcement officials, lawmakers and Black Lives
Matter activists.
A National Shift : The response from Memphis officials to Mr. Nichols’s
death reflected how cities across the country are moving faster and
speaking critically when officers are accused of beatings.
The Responsibility of Watching : The video of Memphis police beating Mr.
Nichols challenges public complacency — and complicity, A.O. Scott
writes . What are our duties as citizens and as human beings?

The Times’s analysis is based on footage from police body cams

and street cameras released by the City of Memphis and
synchronized by The Times.

Here are four key moments in which officers punished Mr. Nichols
for not complying with flawed commands. These videos contain
scenes of graphic violence.

Confusing Orders
The footage begins with a police officer driving up to the
intersection where Mr. Nichols’s car had been boxed in by two
unmarked police vehicles.

The officer jumps out with his firearm drawn and joins a pair of
officers rushing toward the front seat.

One officer pulls Mr. Nichols out of his car, and all three officers
immediately start screaming “On the ground!”

These are the first orders in the bombardment of confusing

commands that confound Mr. Nichols and prompt a cascade of
retribution.

Mr. Nichols points out that he is sitting on the ground, as the

officers instructed him to do.

But multiple officers shout the same command over and over with
intensifying frustration and physical threats.

“Get on the ground!” one orders. “I’m gonna tase your ass.”

It eventually becomes evident that the officers would like Mr.

Nichols not only on the ground but also lying down.

When Mr. Nichols repositions himself, it appears to further

antagonize the officers. He tries to convey that he poses no threat.

“You guys are really doing a lot right now,” he says. “I’m just trying
to go home.”

With officers pinning down his arms, pressing a taser against his
leg and barking intensifying verbal threats, Mr. Nichols explodes:
“I am on the ground!”

Finally, one of the officers yells more specific instructions: “On

your stomach.”

Three seconds later, one of the officers shoots pepper spray into
Mr. Nichols’s face.

00:00 1:11

This video includes scenes of graphic violence.

Contradictory Commands
After fleeing on foot, Mr. Nichols is seen lying on the ground a few
hundred yards away from his car, flanked by officers demanding
that he give them his hands. But one of them is gripping his left
arm, and the other is holding his right. It’s not clear how the
officers expect Mr. Nichols to move.

Then a third officer runs up with a can of pepper spray.

“You’re about to get sprayed good,” he says. The others start

punching Mr. Nichols’s face.

Mr. Nichols responds by pulling his hands back to protect himself.

The punching intensifies, and the pepper spray is fired.

Wiping the pepper spray from his eyes, Mr. Nichols tries assuring
them that he is going to comply.

“OK,” he says. “All right. All right.”

But just as one of the officers gets hold of him, a new officer arrives
and also demands that Mr. Nichols give him his hands. Again, Mr.
Nichols is unable to follow the conflicting directions. He flails
about, which only multiplies the police officers’ commands and the
physical punishment they inflict. He is doused with pepper spray
for a third time.

00:00 0:55

This video includes scenes of graphic violence.

Orders Not Resisted

Two officers stand above Mr. Nichols, who is lying on his side and
rubbing his eyes after being pepper-sprayed three times. An officer
kicks Mr. Nichols in the face. Mr. Nichols appears to be barely
conscious or coherent, but officers treat him as if he is resisting
orders.

“Lay flat, goddamn it,” one officer commands.

Mr. Nichols moans and writhes on the ground. By this point, he has
been tased, kicked in the head twice and punched and pepper-
repeatedly.

“Lay flat,” another officer shouts.

Mr. Nichols is lying limp as an officer, without any apparent

difficulty, snaps a pair of handcuffs to one of his wrists.

00:00 0:23

This video includes scenes of graphic violence.

Impossible Orders
Officers continue to issue commands while simultaneously
constraining, controlling and beating Mr. Nichols in ways that
render it physically impossible for him to follow those commands.

One officer uses Mr. Nichols’s handcuffed arm to pull his body from
the ground and into a kneeling position. Then another officer
strikes him with a baton three times, yelling “Give us your hands!”

Surrounded by four officers, he tries to move away from the baton.

“Give me your fucking hands!” one officer shouts.

But Mr. Nichols — with one officer pinning his arms behind his
back, another gripping his handcuffed wrist and a third punching
his face — cannot comply.

00:00 0:49

This video includes scenes of graphic violence.

Mr. Nichols doubles over and calls out for his mother. The blows
continue.

Five officers have been fired and charged with second-degree

murder. Lawyers for two of them said in a news conference last
week that their clients intended to plead not guilty.

Ishaan Jhaveri and Christoph Koettl contributed reporting.

Natalie Reneau is a video editor for the Visual Investigations team.

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