CNN anchor Don Lemon lit into the cops who beat Tyre Nichols in a disgusted rant minutes after the release of video footage showing the beatings that ended Tyre’s life.
Nichols died on Jan. 10 after allegedly being beaten by Memphis Police Department officers during a Jan. 7 traffic stop. On Thursday, five officers were charged with murder in the case. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced the charges against former officers Emmit Martin III, Justin Smith, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Desmond Mills — all of whom were fired a week ago.
The release of the horrific video evidence of the beating was the subject of shocked anticipation Friday, and when it came, news outlets rushed to sift through the four separate videos to tell the story.
On Friday night’s edition of CNN’s OutFront, anchor Erin Burnett played each of the videos in turn while the team commented on what they were seeing. During the extensive pole-cam video, Burnett asked Lemon, who was reporting live from Memphis, for his reaction.
Lemon did not hold back:
BURNETT: Don Lemon, you’ve been waiting this. Watching all of this, as we all have together, what has stood out to you the most seeing it?
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: As long as we’re being honest, all of it. I mean, from the officer’s actions, to their words, to what has happened to this young man. I mean, the officers — listen to — they sound like they’re hanging out that a barbershop or outside of a bar talking shit. That’s what they sound like. They don’t sound professional. They sound like they’re just, hey, man making up excuses. Yes, and he did this. And he did that.
I can’t believe that these are professional police officers. And from the very beginning, the police chief is right. They started, they were amped up. And I believe that your panelists, Joey, all of these guys are right. All they had to do was explain to him why they were stopping him. He said, why are you stopping me? You all are doing a lot. All they had to do was tell him why they were stopping him and they didn’t do it. They kept going.
So what I may have run to if a bunch of people just ran up to my car and try and pull me out and became aggressive. I might do the same thing. So he runs and then they find him. It is obvious the man is trying to run home to his mom. That’s what he’s trying to do. So they get him in the neighborhood. And then they catch — they put him on the ground and you hear them talking crap again, your mom, she can’t hear you, as if your mom can hear you, and I’m going to tase or pepper spray the shit out of you.
I’m going to baton the F out of you. They’re saying all of these things — it doesn’t sound — why? What is the need for that?
And then they get him on the ground and this pole camera is — you’re right, it is the most damning. Now listen, I have to be honest. This is bad and that this man — young man is dead. Is it Rodney King? I don’t believe. I think this is Tyre Nichols. It’s different. Rodney King was beat for baton for minutes. If you go back and look at the Rodney King video. Rodney King was on PCP. Says — gives you this extra strength that police officers can tell you about. It is different.
Is it just as bad? It’s worse, because this man was killed. Rodney King wasn’t killed. He ended up dying eventually from something else. This is awful in its own. This can stand on its own. So we don’t need to do the comparisons to Rodney King. This is different.
But then — but then when he is unconscious on the ground, after they beat him and kick him, they leave him there. They prop him up against the car, he falls over, they prop him against the car, he falls over, they prop him against car, he falls over. And you have all of these people on the scene and not rendering help. This is awful. This is a failure, not only in policing. It’s a failure in humanity.
And I’m uncomfortable actually watching it. And I know this is my job as a journalist, but this is uncomfortable. We’re watching a man being beaten to death on live television right now. It is a tape, but we’re live doing it.
Shimon has been sitting — Shimon Prokupecz has been covering this. He’s been standing here. We’ve been watching this. Both of us outraged and on the verge of tears. I cannot believe the actions or inaction of the police officers.
