AP interviews Memphis Police chief on Tyre Nichols
(28 Jan 2023) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Memphis, Tennessee - 7 January 2023 1. Various of the City of Memphis Public Safety Building 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Cerelyn "CJ" Davis, Memphis Police Chief: "We can't substantiate the reason for the stop. You know, we know what our officer said. However, there is no video footage, no body camera footage that identifies Mr. Nichols recklessly driving. We know something happened prior to this officer or these officers getting out of their vehicles, because as I explained, you know earlier today that in the video, the initial stop shows the officers already ramped up at about a ten. So, and you know, just knowing the nature of officers, it takes something to get them amped up, you know, like that. We don't know what happened, so we can't pretend or imagine what happened. All we know is that the amount of force that was applied in this situation was over the top." 3. Businesses being boarded up 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Cerelyn "CJ" Davis, Memphis Police Chief: "The video starts when the initial officer who's stopping the car gets out of his car. His body camera video starts and you see him going to Mr. Nichols car and he's yelling as he's going to the car. You know, get out the car, get out the car, you know, and using profane language and so on. So, just that level of aggression just makes you wonder what in the world happened and, you know, I would love to know." 5. Boards being cut with a saw 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Cerelyn "CJ" Davis, Memphis Police Chief: "I haven't done a deep dive assessment to see whether or not we have a cultural problem. I know we have a supervisor shortage and and the lack of supervision in this incident was a major problem, you know, because when officers are working, you should have at least one supervisor for every, you know, group or squad of people and not just somebody who's at the office doing the paperwork, somebody who's actually embedded in that unit." 7. Various of Memphis 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Cerelyn "CJ" Davis, Memphis Police Chief: "This department is woefully under supervised and we have other individuals right now that are under investigation in this instance, mainly because of the responsibilities of other people to be where they're supposed to be, to supervise, to intervene, to notify. And so, there's been like a domino effect." 9. Businesses being boarded up STORYLINE: Authorities on Friday were set to release police video depicting five Memphis officers beating a Black man whose death resulted in murder charges and provoked outrage at the country’s latest instance of police brutality. The officers, all of whom are Black, were charged Thursday in the killing of Nichols, a motorist who died three days after a Jan. 7 confrontation with the officers during a traffic stop. Nichols' family members and their lawyers said the footage shows officers savagely beating the 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes in an assault that the legal team likened to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King. Memphis Police Director Cerelyn "CJ" Davis described the officers' actions as “heinous, reckless and inhumane,” and said that her department has been unable to substantiate the reckless driving allegation that prompted the stop. She told The Associated Press in an interview that there is no video of the traffic stop that shows Nichols recklessly driving. “All we know is the amount of force that was applied in this situation was over the top,” Davis said. =========================================================== Clients are reminded: Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
