New details about the death of Tyre Nichols are adding to the mounting pressure for a full release of the body camera video.
Two EMT workers have been placed on leave just as preliminary details of the Tennessee man’s autopsy shed light on how he died after a brutal police encounter.
Two Memphis EMTs who arrived at the scene to tend to Tyre Nichols, 29, are currently “relieved of duty” while officials complete an internal investigation.
The unnamed EMTs responded to where a beaten and bruised Nichols encountered five Memphis police officers following a traffic stop on Jan. 7.
Memphis Councilman J.B. Smiley said the EMTs “were in the ambulance” during a town hall meeting on Jan. 24, WMC reported.
The EMTs were part of Nichols’ “initial patient care,” Memphis Fire Department spokeswoman Qwanesha Ward told Reuters. She did not confirm if the EMTs were actual firefighters nor if they were being paid while on leave.
Meanwhile, preliminary details from Nichols’ independent autopsy are filling out the picture of how he died.
Nichols’ family attorney, Ben Crump, released a statement saying, “Tyre suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating, and that his observed injuries are consistent with what the family and attorneys witnessed on the video of his fatal encounter with police.”
The full autopsy report has not been released at this time.
Body camera video of Nichols’ final moments has not been released publicly despite mounting pressure to do so. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy told The Associated Press that “he feared that releasing the video too early in the investigation could influence witnesses. He asked for patience from the public.”
“We, the taxpayers, paid for it, and this is about transparency, and damn it, we’re going to have it, or we need a refund on our tax dollars. The public wants to see what happened. We need to know if we’re really employing people who think…
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