Local NAACP leader responds to Tyre Nichols video

SAGINAW, Mich. (WNEM) - A local NAACP leader responded to the body cam video from the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols that Memphis police released on Friday night.

“It was absolutely horrific. Certainly, from my eyes it was totally brutal and absolutely unnecessary,” said Terry Pruitt, president of the NAACP Saginaw Branch.

The video shows five officers’ confrontation with Nichols after pulling him over for a traffic violation near his home in Memphis on Jan. 7. He died in the hospital three days later.

“To hear him calling for his mother and to see him be subjected for seven or eight minutes to a very brutal beating that ended in him losing his life. There’s nothing there that justifies the actions that those police officers took,” Pruitt said.

In the video, viewers can see the 29-year-old being beaten, kicked, punched, tased, and pepper sprayed.

“I think it helps to understand why it was necessary to take very immediate action on the part of the force as well as to immediately charge those individuals,” Pruitt said.

All five officers involved in the traffic stop have been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression.

Pruitt said this is not a time to fight violence with violence.

“Remain calm. Violence will not solve the immediate problem and won’t give comfort to the family,” Pruitt said. “I think that it’s important that everybody remains calm and let cool heads prevail at this point.”

A funeral will be held for Nichols next week.

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