Tyre Nichols: Family urges calm ahead of video release

The family of a Memphis man who died after police officers beat him is calling for calm ahead of the release of video of the traffic stop.

Tyre Nichols, 29, died days after the 7 January encounter with five ex-police officers who now face murder charges.

Family members and officials say body camera footage of the incident shows Mr Nichols was brutally beaten.

His family say they don't "want any type of disturbance" when it is made public.

"We want peaceful protests," stepfather Rodney Wells said during a press conference on Friday afternoon. "That's what the family wants. That's what the community wants.

RowVaughn Wells, Mr Nichols' mother, said she felt despair when she learned her child had called out to her that day.

"No mother should go through what I'm going through right now," she said through tears.

She told CNN earlier on Friday her son was beaten "to a pulp" by the officers.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, thanked Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis for her "swift" action in charging the officers and called the response a "blueprint for America".

All five of the officers face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith were booked into jail on Thursday. They all joined the Memphis Police Department in the last six years, and were fired last week.

Ms Davis told CNN earlier on Friday that she was horrified by the incident and that the officers' actions "defy humanity".

She likened the video to 1991 footage of Los Angeles police officers beating black motorist Rodney King, an event that caused outrage around the world and forced reforms in the LAPD.

The video of the Nichols' incident is scheduled to be released in four separate clips on Friday evening, local time.

The Tennessee city is said to be on edge since the incident and police there have increased patrols.

Mr Nichols, a black man, was stopped by five police officers, who are also black, on his way home after taking photos of a sunset at a local park, an attorney for the family said.

Officials say he was suspected of reckless driving, though Ms Davis said on Friday that has not been substantiated.

A first confrontation occurred as Mr Nichols attempted to flee on foot when officers approached his car, the local authorities said.

They said a second confrontation happened when officers tried to arrest him.

Mr Nichols later complained of shortness of breath and was taken to hospital, police said, where he was listed in a critical condition.

Officials said Mr Nichols "succumbed to his injuries" on 10 January, but provided no further details. An official cause of death has not yet been disclosed.

A lawyer for his family said the bodycam footage showed Mr Nichols being pepper-sprayed, struck with a stun gun, restrained and kicked.

The family and their legal team on Friday said police culture in America was to blame for Mr Nichols' death and that they wanted to see police reform, including a "Tyre law" in the state of Tennessee that would urge officers to intervene if crimes are being committed by their colleagues.

"We have to talk about this institutionalised police culture that has this unwritten law that you can engage in extensive use of force against black and brown people," Mr Crump added.

The Nichols family and their legal team privately reviewed the video footage of the arrest earlier this week.

His relatives say he will be remembered as a "good kid" who enjoyed photography and skateboarding.

The father-of-one, who worked at the parcel delivery company FedEx, had Crohn's disease and suffered severe weight loss, family members say.

In a news conference on Thursday, lawyers for two of the ex-officers said their clients planned to fight the charges.

Reverend Al Sharpton, a US civil rights leader, told the BBC the alleged crime was particularly painful because of the officers' race.

"We fought to put blacks on the police force," he said. "For them to act in such a brutal way is more egregious than I can tell you."

The FBI and the Department of Justice have opened a civil rights investigation into Mr Nichols' death.

The officers involved are members of a special team known as Scorpion - short for "Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods".

The unit, which was created to police high-crime areas, is now under review.