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Memphis authorities say they're planning to release body camera footage from the police killing of Tyre Nichols, leaving cities across the U.S. on edge and bracing for a familiar ritual: protests, outrage and calls for national police reform.

Following Thursday's announcement of charges

 against the officers, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said the city would release body camera footage Friday after 6 p.m. CT. 

In an email to NPR on Friday morning, the Memphis Police Department said they were still unsure of the exact timing of the release but it could come "sometime after 5:00 p.m. CT." 

The video will be uploaded to YouTube in four different parts. Neighborhood surveillance video will appear alongside the body camera footage, all depicting a three-minute span of events leading to Nichols' death. 

Nichols, a 29-year-old father and FedEx worker, was pulled over on Jan. 7 for what police said was reckless driving. After trying to flee on foot, Nichols was severely beaten by police. He died in a hospital three days later.

in Tyre Nichols' death

All five of the officers have since been fired, and are facing charges of second-degree murder, assault and kidnapping. State and federal authorities are also investigating the officers.  

Lawyers and Nichols' family, who have privately viewed the video of Nichols' arrest, called it "appalling," "heinous" and "horrific." 

It shows Nichols being savagely beaten, kicked, pepper-sprayed and struck with a stun gun, according to one of the Nichols' family lawyers. 

"He was a human piñata," said lawyer Antonio Romanucci. "It was an unadulterated, unabashed, non-stop beating of this young boy for three minutes."

Nichols' family lawyers call for an investigation into 'saturation patrols'

Activists are already calling for reform in Memphis and across the nation, with many asking for a completely overhauled approach to policing. 

Amber Sherman, a local Black Lives Matter organizer, 

, "The only way for us to end the injustice that keeps happening and the murders of Black people that keep happening is to stop using police for traffic enforcement." 

In a statement released Friday morning, Nichols family attorney Ben Crump said the true cause of Nichols' death was "policing culture itself, not something Tyre personally did." 

Crump called on the DOJ to investigate "saturation patrols," which he says involve big teams of police patrolling neighborhoods in the name of decreasing violent crime, but actually just foster a "wolf pack" mindset. Crump claims the five officers who beat Nichols were part of such a unit. 

Memphis authorities urge protestors to stay peaceful after the video's release

In a video statement released Thursday, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said the city would initiate an outside review of its specialized units, saying it was clear that the officers violated local policies and training practices.

National leaders like the Rev. Al Sharpton have said the police brutality against Nichols was even more painful because of the officers' race. All five officers, like Nichols, are Black. 

"We fought to put Blacks on the police force," he told the BBC. "For them to act in such a brutal way is more egregious than I can tell you. [...] I do not believe these five Black police officers would have done this had he been a young white man."

Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis, the first Black woman to hold the city's top police role, pledged "absolute accountability" for those responsible for Nichols' death, but asked for the city to stay calm in the meantime. 

"I expect you to feel outrage at the disregard of basic human rights as our police officers have taken an oath to do the opposite of what transpired on the video," she said. "But we need to ensure our community is safe in this process." 

Nichols' mother RowVaughn Wells urged the same approach, but for a personal reason.

"I don't want us burning up cities, tearing up our streets, because that's not what my son stood for," she said at 

Memphis area schools canceled all after-class activities and postponed Saturday school events as an extra precaution, the Associated Press reports. Some local businesses, including the Memphis Power Co. and the University of Memphis, were also planning to close early. 

Cities were already bracing for protests following a police killing in Atlanta

President Biden joined Nichols' family in their grief on Thursday, saying "outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable." 

Biden also called Nichols' death a "painful reminder" of the need to reform law enforcement, calling on Congress to pass 

, which would ban certain policing techniques and create a national database of police misconduct.

Cities across the U.S. were already braced for protest this week after demonstrators took to the streets in Atlanta to 

protest the police killing of 26-year-old Manuel Esteban Perez. 

Perez and other social justice activists were protesting a new police training center known as "Cop City" that is planned for what was once a 300-acre Atlanta forest.f

Fierce opposition to the development erupted in unrest and vandalism last week. Six people were charged with domestic terrorism related to the riots.

 order on Thursday, authorizing 1,000 National Guard troops to be called up until Feb. 9.

 have been coordinating a response to possible protests since Monday. On a call last night, police departments across the country were told the body camera footage would be released today.

Crime, Law and Justice

Social Issues

Emily Olson

Author

Memphis authorities say they're planning to release body camera footage depicting the 29-year-old's death sometime after 6 p.m. CT. Cities across the U.S. are bracing for protests.

Memphis braces for the release of Tyre Nichols arrest footage

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