After weeks of protest, video footage of the arrest of Tyre Nichols was finally released Friday evening. Nichols died earlier this month — three days after the violent interaction with Memphis police. And law enforcement and public officials throughout the country — including Phoenix — issued statements of condemnation after seeing the footage.
The incident comes at a moment of reckoning for the Phoenix Police Department, which has been under a pattern of practice investigation by the Department of Justice since 2021.
In a statement Friday, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association called the Nichols footage “abhorrent and disturbing” and said the five officers involved — who have been charged with second-degree murder — must be held accountable.
Interim chief Michael Sullivan called the footage infuriating and offensive to the profession.
And City Manager Jeff Barton said it was challenging to watch, specifically as a Black man and father of two young black sons. And he said he remains committed to holding city of Phoenix employees accountable to basic principles of respect and decency.
