Short Takes — 08

Additional Thoughts on the Tyre Nichols Videos.

Tyre Nichols, being beaten to death by Memphis police officers about 80 yards from his mother’s house.

I watched the Tyre Nichols tapes on Friday. I watched the tapes and about 6 hours of commentary on a variety of channels.

I watched them at 7pm when they aired on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX. I flipped between the channels because I was very curious about how each would present the material. I half expected FOX not to show it at all, I was a little surprised that they did.

If you want to know what I saw. Here is what I wrote. My Take — 07 : Let’s talk about “the POLICE” and police work.

Here are some additional thoughts about what I saw and how I interpret it. The “meaning” I am assigning to things in the dataset of facts.

ONE: It seemed odd to me that a “doctor” at the hospital was the one to call Mr. Nichols mother.

Tyre’s mother and her husband took this picture on his cell phone at the hospital.

From Testimony:

Around 11:30 p.m. At Nichol’s home. 80 yards from where he was beaten to death. Officers visit the home and talk to Tyre’s mother. She states:

Cops “banged on” her door late Jan. 7 to tell her that her 29-year-old son had been busted for DUI.

“DUI? My son don’t drink like that, what do you mean, DUI?” she replied.

They then told her that they “had to pepper spray and Tase him,” with no mention of the beating that would lead to murder charges.

Tyre’s mother said the officers, “downplayed the seriousness of her son’s injuries, suggesting he was being treated but would soon be discharged and booked”.

“I asked if I could go to the hospital. They told me, No,”

When she asked the officers which hospital her son had been taken to. They said, “nearby”.

“Nearby? What is nearby? I got nothing from them.”

4:00 a.m. the next morning, Jan. 8th.

A doctor at the hospital calls Tyre’s mother to find out why she was not at her son’s hospital bedside after he’d gone into cardiac arrest and his…