Stacy Brown|NNPA Newswire
Footage from Tyre Nichols’ fatal traffic stop found that police officers issued a barrage of confusing, conflicting, and sometimes impossible to obey commands.
If Nichols did not comply, or even if he did, the police would respond with increasing force.
According to the footage analyze by the New York Times, police officers shouted a total of at least 71 orders in the roughly 13 minutes before they radioed in that Nichols was in custody.
The orders were given in two separate places: one near Nichols’ vehicle, and another where he had run to avoid being beaten severely.
The video revealed that often the officers shouted conflicting orders, making it difficult for Nichols to understand and obey.
Nichols was ordered by officers to display his hand, even as officers held the young man’s hands.
At one point, they shouted for him to get down on the ground while he was already on the ground.
And when they had his body under their control, the officers still made him change positions.
The experts agree that the actions of the Memphis police officers were a blatant illustration of a widespread problem in policing, in which officers physically punish civilians for perceived disrespect or disobedience, a phenomenon known as “contempt of cop,” the Times reported.
Professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina Geoffrey Alpert said, “It was far more rampant in the ‘80s when I started doing police work than in the ‘90s or 2000s.”
Before body cameras, police officers were becoming more professional and less likely to take things personally, as appeared to have happened with Nichols, Alpert stated.
Because of the potential for escalation and confusion during police encounters, modern police training typically calls for a single officer to be present at the scene to issue clear and specific commands.
It also necessitates that police officers respond professionally and proportionally to any perceived act of defiance.
The review by the Times, however, shows that the Memphis officers consistently did the opposite.
There is no evidence in the footage that the present officers did anything to prevent the excessive use of force. Actually, it seems to prove the opposite.
After Nichols attempted to flee the scene, an officer can be heard on camera saying, “I hope they stomp his ass.”
The Times noted four “crucial instances” in which police officers reprimanded Nichols for disobeying incorrect orders.
An officer is seen pulling up to the intersection where Nichols’ car was trapped between two unmarked police cars at the start of the footage.