Former Washington, D.C., homicide detective and Fox News contributor Ted Williams says the\u00a0Memphis Police Department’s plans to release police-worn bodycam footage showing the Jan. 7 police beating of Tyre Nichols on Friday evening is “very, very troubling.”
\nMPD is expected to make the bodycam video \u2014 which Attorney General Merrick Garland described as “deeply disturbing” \u2014 public around 7 p.m. ET on Friday, leading cities across the United States, including Memphis, Atlanta and New York City, to prepare for potentially large protests beginning on Friday evening and continuing throughout the weekend.
\n“To put this out here in the dead of night, I think, is a disadvantage to law enforcement officers who are trying to uphold the law, and I think that is very, very troubling,” Williams told Fox News Digital.
\nThe former detective added that releasing the video at night gives people \u2014 especially those in urban communities \u2014 who want to wreak havoc in cities “an advantage.”
\n“This is the key. There are people\u2026who are going to take advantage of the situation, and those people are all over this country,” he said, adding that he believes releasing the video “on any given morning” would have been better than publishing it on Friday evening, which he likened to putting fuel on “an already lit fire.”
\nFormer police officer and Secret Service agent Michael Verden, now the founder and CEO of security company The Lake Forest Group, told Fox News Digital that he believes Memphis police are likely releasing the video on Friday evening in an effort to give people time to get home at the end of the work week before potential demonstrations begin.
\n“Most businesses are closed \u2014 even though restaurants, retail, etcetera, are open until evening \u2014 most businesses are nine to five, right? So, I think that’s part of the strategy is to release it so people that commute and work in the city can safely leave but still have a productive workday,” Verden said.
\nThe evening release may also give businesses time to proactively board up their windows, the former Secret Service agent said, adding that he expects “violent protests not only in Memphis but in other parts of the country.”
\nTennessee Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) President Scott DeLaschmit confirmed Verden’s theory.
\n“First off, we would like to say that what happened in Memphis is a tragedy. It’s a travesty, and that’s not the way any officers are trained,” DeLaschmit said. “Second, I think the reason they are releasing this video on a Friday afternoon is: there are a lot of businesses downtown, and that’s usually where the protests occur, and according to the rumors we’re hearing, [Memphis PD] is looking to give the businesses a couple of days before they open back up on Monday morning.”
\nNichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, on Thursday evening asked demonstrators protesting police brutality after her son’s death to remain peaceful.
\nCivil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing her family, reviewed the bodycam video earlier this week. He described the video as “appalling” and likened it to the 1991 beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles.
\n“When that tape comes out tomorrow, it\u2019s going to be horrific. I didn\u2019t see it, but from what I hear it\u2019s going to be horrific,” Wells told a crowd that gathered Thursday at the Tobey Skate Park. “But I want each and every one of you to protest in peace. I don’t want us burning up our cities, tearing up the streets because that\u2019s not what my son stood for.”
\nNichols, a Black man, died in the hospital three days after five Black police officers \u2014 including Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith \u2014 allegedly beat the 29-year-old following a traffic stop.
\nOn Jan. 20, MPD announced the termination of the five officers involved in the incident for violating “multiple department policies, including\u00a0excessive use of force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid,” MPD Chief CJ Davis said in a press release at the time. All five were hired between 2017 and 2020.
\nThe former officers\u00a0turned themselves in and were each charged with seven counts, including one count of second-degree murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of official oppression and two counts each of aggravated kidnapping and official misconduct. The five officers were also released on bond as of Friday afternoon.
\nThe Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division also opened an investigation into the incident on Jan. 18.
\n“As this is an open investigation, we are not able to provide additional comment or release further information at this time,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Kevin Ritz said in a statement at the time.
\nNichols was a FedEx worker, a skateboarder, a photographer and a father, according to Crump.<\/p>\n