‘I probably would have ran too.’ Ex-Memphis cop reacts on TikTok to Tyre Nichols slaying

A former Memphis Police Department officer spoke out on TikTok after the killing of Tyre Nichols, and hundreds of thousands are listening.

Five former Memphis police officers have been charged with murder in the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols who was beaten during a traffic stop Jan. 7 and died three days later. Three emergency medical technicians have been fired and two more police officers have been disciplined.

Nichols’ slaying has prompted police unions across the country to release statements of opposition, including the Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose and State of Hawaii police unions which called Nichols’ killing “horrific.”

On Jan. 31, former MPD officer Brandon Williams spoke from his heart in a TikTok video about the killing of Nichols. Williams worked for the MPD between 2016 and 2021, he said, and had patrolled with two of the five officers who are now facing charges.

Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith each face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression, according to the Associated Press. They are no longer employed with the department, according to the outlet.

Nichols was initially pulled over for a traffic stop but there “appeared to be no justification for the traffic stop, and nothing of note was found in the car,” the Associated Press reported. Footage of the incident provided by the Associated Press shows Nichols running after one officer fired a taser at him and the police begin to pursue him.

Williams said in the TikTok that Nichols’ life may not have been guaranteed even if he acted differently.

“You can’t say that if he never ran he would still be alive when the stop was illegal in the first place,” Williams said. ”As a Black male, I probably would have ran too, and I was a police for five years.”

The former officer added that he thinks the tactics the officers used against Nichols should not be taught or used unless they were intentionally trying to kill the individual.

“There is no way, form or fashion that you take a police boot and you strike a man’s face multiple times when he’s on the ground. No form, no way, no fashion, there’s no way that that’s excusable,” Williams said in the TikTok.

He advised that police should never let their fellow officers do something that they wouldn’t allow to be done to themselves.

“Once you look at somebody, no matter what crime they did, and you take the human out of them, you have now also lost your humanity,” Williams finished.

His video has more than 600,000 views, and some fellow former police officers have chimed in to support Williams.

“Retired police officer here. Very well said. Spot on,” one person commented.

“More officers need to speak this, and be teaching it,” another said. “Thank you.”

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