Tire Nichols, sprayed with tear gas and targeted by a Taser gun with electric shocks, tries to flee but is then caught by the agents, who are unleashed, apparently insensitive to the pleas of the motorist.
Reacting some thirty minutes after the explosive video was made public, President Joe Biden said he was “outraged” and “deeply bruised”. “Mom. Mom. Mom!” Tyre Nichols shouts in one of the excerpts.
In another, we see him on the ground, beaten for long seconds. On Friday, the first demonstrations began in various cities across the country, including Washington, New York and Memphis.
In a sign that the case is potentially explosive, Mr Biden had urged the gatherings to be “peaceful” and spoke on the phone that afternoon with Tyre Nichols’ mother and stepfather. Because his death recalls that of the African-American George Floyd, killed by a police officer in May 2020.
Demonstrations against racism and police violence then set the country ablaze, united around the slogan “Black Lives Matter”.