Lawyer for Nichols family says Tyre Nichols was ‘human piñata’ for police

MEMPHIS — Tyre Nichols cried out for his mother three times — “Mom! Mom! Mom!” — as officers beat him less than 100 yards from his home, according to lawyers for his family

who watched the police video with his parents for the first time Monday. Nichols, 29, was pronounced dead in a hospital three days after he was arrested by five Memphis

police officers who have since been fired by the department. Officials screened arrest footage for the Nichols family but have not yes released the video to the public.

Family members said Nichols died of kidney failure and cardiac arrest on Jan. 10, three days after his encounter with the officers. A police spokesperson said officers pulled

Nichols over for reckless driving and Nichols fled on foot before he was ultimately arrested. The department has said it would release video footage of the arrest to the

public after the family had a chance to view it, but has not provided a more specific timeline. “A premature release could adversely impact the criminal investigation

and the judicial process,” said Police Chief Cerelyn Davis in a Monday news release. At a news conference on Monday, attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the

family, said Shelby County’s district attorney told him and Nichols’s relatives that the video would not be released for another one to two weeks while the investigation is

ongoing. “It is appalling. It is deplorable. It is heinous. It is violent,” Crump said of the footage. Co-counsel Antonio Romanucci described Nichols as a “human piñata

for these police officers.” As he spoke, Nichols’s mother broke into tears and cried out, “My God!”