The Tyre Nichols' Beating: What Went Wrong in Memphis? | States of America

The Memphis Police Department’s Scorpion Unit was established in 2021 to establish peace in high-crime, hot-spot neighborhoods. So how did unarmed 29-year-old Black man Tyre Nichols end up beaten to death after an alleged traffic violation? 

In partnership with The Commercial Appeal, we investigate the brutal beating and analyze body cam footage released by police to understand what went wrong that night. We interview a former Memphis police lieutenant who breaks down the role that race played and discusses aggressive recruiting tactics that the Memphis Police Department employed under Chief Cerelyn Davis and Mayor Jim Strickland. We also delve deep into the decades-long fraught relationship between communities of color and police that dates back to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis.

Credits:
Executive Producer and Writer: Yasmeen Qureshi
Producers: Andrea Kramar and Lamar Salter
Lead Editor: Mark Apicella
Reporter: Micaela Watts
Director of Photography: Corentin Soibinet
Camera: Andrea Kramar and Yasmeen Qureshi
Additional Camera: Lamar Salter and Stu Boyd II
Drone Photography: Barbara Gaunt and Stu Boyd II
Additional Reporting: Lucas Finton
Motion Graphics Designers: Mike De Angelis, Yasmin Mistry and William Pennington
Assistant Editor: Joshua Cheatum
Sound Editor: James Panepinto
Consulting Producer: David Hamlin

Executives of Production:
Kate Gutman
Russ Torres
Robert Padavick

Special thanks to:
Mark Russell, The Commercial Appeal Staff

ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE:
AP
WMC-TV
NBC News Archives
Austin Robert Dick
Ryan Wilson
George Holliday/Roby Massarotto

Archival Photos:
AP, The Commercial Appeal, Getty Images, Ben Crump Law, University of Memphis Libraries- Special Collections Department, Memphis Press-Scimitar, LJ Abraham, Bennie Smith

Photographers:
Austin Robert Dick, Ryan Wilson, Ray Padilla, Chris Day, Joe Rondone, Christine Tannous, Jim Shearin, Barney Sellers, Vernon Matthews, George Walker IV, Horace Court, Charles Kelly, William Leaptrott, Jack E. Cantrell, Tom Barber, James R. Reid

#TyreNichols #Police #Memphisj