Up to 20 hours of additional video footage related to the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols has yet to be released, a prosecutor revealed Wednesday.
The unreleased footage includes audio of what was said after the vicious Jan. 7 beating and during the ambulance ride that brought the 29-year-old black man to the hospital, Shelby County prosecutor Steven Mulroy told CNN.
The disturbing footage released Friday showing Nichols’ traffic stop and beating contradicts what police said happened in the Memphis officers’ initial report that night.
“The incident report that has gone public does not match up on all fours with what one sees when one looks at the video that’s already been released,” Mulroy said Wednesday.
Additional charges of “false reporting” related to the first police report are being considered, a spokesperson for Mulroy’s office told CNN. Memphis police and city officials will determine when the unseen footage will be released.
The report details an “irate” Nichols, who repeatedly fought officers and reached for their guns. But the footage released by the Memphis Police Department last week does not show Nichols attacking officers or reaching for any weapon.
In the video, Nichols can be heard crying out for his mother, who lives mere yards away from where he was beaten. The harrowing video shows Nichols being held down on the ground by two cops as a third repeatedly kicks him in the face.
A fourth officer can be seen striking Nichols with a police baton while another cheers him on.
The footage shows that Nichols was punched in the head at least six times before cops handcuffed him and leaned him against a nearby car. The father of one died from his injuries in the hospital on Jan. 10.
All five officers, some of whom were part of the department’s now-disbanded elite SCORPION task force, have been fired and arrested on murder charges. Two sheriff’s deputies and two other officers were also placed on leave following the deadly encounter.
Three Memphis Fire Department employees were also fired following Nichols’ death after it was revealed that they “failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment on the victim.”
A funeral service held for Nichols on Wednesday afternoon in Memphis was attended by some 2,500 mourners and featured a eulogy from civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton and an address from Vice President Kamala Harris.
The service was held at the Mason Temple Church of God in Christ headquarters, best known as the place where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech shortly before his 1968 assassination.
Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd’s brother Philonise were also reportedly in attendance.
During the service, members of Nichols’ family shared memories of the mild-mannered father of one who loved to skateboard.
Nichols’ sister Keyana Dixon said her brother was “robbed of his life, his passions, and his talents, but not his light.” His father, Rodney Wells, said he hopes his son’s death will lead to the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
“We have to fight for justice,” Wells said. “We cannot continue to let these people brutalize our kids.”
