What you should know about the video showing Tyre Nichols being beaten to death by Memphis police

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Tyre Nichols screamed for his mother as Memphis police beat him after a traffic stop about a block from his parents' home on Jan. 7, 2023. The 29-year-old died in the hospital three days later.

In analyzing what officers claimed happened that night, The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of pages of evidence and hours of video footage from the scene, including officers' body cameras. The cameras showed a vastly different scene than the one officers described in their words.

More than a year and a half after Nichols' death, three former police officers are facing federal charges over the fatal beating, along with allegations that they rendered virtually no assistance when he fell to the sidewalk while in a patrol car, and that they lied or omitted key information to protect themselves from reprisal.

Two other former police officers have pleaded guilty and could testify against their former colleagues.

The trial will draw attention to a case that has already sparked outrage around the world and increased calls for police reform in the city and the United States as a whole.

The three officers have also been charged in Tennessee state courts, while the other two former officers, Desmond Mills and Emmitt Martin, plan to plead guilty as they would in federal court. The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the Memphis Police Department, and Nichols' family has sued the city over his death.

Here is an analysis of how officers' statements in reports at the time match what the video footage shows in four key moments.

Claims of the resistance

Memphis police officers Demetrius Haley, Preston Hemphill and Martin were the first three to encounter Nichols after stopping him for alleged reckless driving.

Haley wrote in his response to the resistance form that Nichols “ignored all orders” to get out of the car. He wrote that Nichols “waving his arms around” and cursing at the officers. Martin's report claimed that Nichols reached for one of the officers' weapons.

Footage from a police body-worn camera shows officers immediately dragging Nichols from the vehicle. Officers are cursing, screaming and threatening to shock Nichols with a taser.

The video shows Nichols being forced to his knees as he tries to calmly explain to the officers, “I'm on the ground.” Nichols is then physically subdued by the three officers, who use a taser and pepper spray on him.

Gentle hands versus excessive force

Other Memphis officers, Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith, joined the fray after Nichols fled and was caught just blocks from his parents' home.

Haley, Bean and Smith described in their responses to the resistance forms that officers used “soft hand” techniques to subdue Nichols – Haley during the traffic stop and Bean and Smith at the scene of the fight.

“Soft Hands” is a technique described in Memphis Police Department policy as: “Escort controls, touch pressure points, wrist or arm holds, and restraint techniques that pose minimal risk of injury.”

The incident report only mentions that officers used chemical weapons and a baton against Nichols. There is no mention of the kicks, punches and slaps while he was holding or handcuffing his arms.

Several videos show a nearly three-minute barrage of punches, kicks and batons on Nichols' face, head, front and back while police detain him.

An accusation of “deliberate indifference”

Bean, Haley and Smith are accused of acting with “deliberate indifference” while Nichols lay on the ground struggling with his injuries. The multi-count indictment says officers “deliberately” disregarded Nichols' medical needs by failing to provide him with medical attention and failing to tell a police dispatcher and paramedics that Nichols had been repeatedly struck.

Bean, Haley and Smith have pleaded not guilty.

Smith's body-worn camera captured him and another officer high-fiving each other five feet away from Nichols. In the aerial photo, two officers can be seen fist bumping each other.

Meanwhile, Nichols appears to lose consciousness. He collapses and does not respond when the police try to get him up again.

On Bean's body-worn camera, officers brag about the robbery, laugh, and speculate that Nichols is high. Nichols' autopsy later found only small amounts of alcohol and THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in his system.

Mother's questions unanswered

On Mills' body camera, Lt. Dewayne Smith and Mills go to Nichols' home, where he lives with his parents, just blocks from where he lies bleeding. His parents ask why Nichols is in custody.

Lt. Smith tells them he was arrested for drunk driving and that Nichols was “intoxicated.”

In another conversation, Hemphill tells Nichols' mother that he fought with police officers, and another officer tells her that he had “incredible strength.” Smith, the former lieutenant, resigned rather than be fired, and Hemphill was fired. Neither faces any charges.

Hemphill later speaks with Nichols' parents at the scene of the first traffic stop, where his mother, RowVaughn Wells, makes incredulous comments.

“My son? My son? Not Tyrus,” Wells said.

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Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee.