Tyre Nichols video 'not looking good for the officers': ex-NYPD Det. Rob O'Donnell
WARNING: Graphic footage—Ret. NYPD Det. Rob O'Donnell analyzes footage of Tyre Nichols' bodycam videos on 'Jesse Watters Primetime.'
The initial segments of videos released by Memphis authorities depicting the detainment of Tyre Nichols do not paint the five arresting now-former officers in a positive light, a former NYPD detective told Fox News on Friday.
The city's police department fired the lawmen involved: Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Emmitt Martin, Desmond Mills and Justin Smith. Each face charges including second-degree murder, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Minutes after the videos' release, "Jesse Watters Primetime" host Jesse Watters asked Ret. NYPD Det. Rob O'Donnell to analyze the encounter.
"What I'm seeing here is they had the numbers — the police officers had the numbers. They should have had the training and experience, and they made no real attempt to secure [Nichols'] hands or put him down," he said. "They were standing all around him."
TYRE NICHOLS BODYCAM: MEMPHIS AUTHORITIES RELEASE VIDEO OF DEADLY TRAFFIC STOP
A portrait of Tyre Nichols is displayed at a memorial service for him. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
O'Donnell said the officers made no attempt to tactfully secure Nichols, who was reportedly stopped on suspicion of reckless driving.
"[With] the experience and training they had, they should have been able to secure him as soon as he was out of the car," O'Donnell said.
Watters noted one officer appeared to have a stun-gun held to Nichols leg while he was already on the ground, while two other officers appeared to control his wrists, though Nichols was able to get to his feet and initiate a foot pursuit.
"Yeah, 100%, Jesse," O'Donnell said. "Like I said, they had the numbers there to keep him down and secure him. I don't see a set of handcuffs out to try and secure him — I see the taser out against him."
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Fired Officers Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills and Justin Smith (Memphis Police Department)
"It's just not looking good for these officers," he said, adding he can understand why the quintet was terminated and indicted in connection with the incident.
If reports of a traffic stop being initiated on suspicion of reckless driving are true, O'Donnell said, it would have been an arrestable offense in Tennessee.
"[The officers] kept saying, ‘Give me your hands.’ If they felt that there was a danger and they needed to secure him, your job as police officers to secure that scene as quickly and without further incident as possible, which is to put him down and handcuff him," he said, noting that at least in New York City where he served, officers are no longer able to apply knee pressure to suspects' torsos.
"[T]hat's why we're seeing officers time and time again resort to these tools that don't always work, like Tasers, like their batons, like pepper spray," he said.
"We've seen here [Nichols] was Tasered, was pepper-sprayed, was struck and kicked and hit with this baton and still was able to run and flee several times."
O'Donnell concluded that if officers had used force to secure Nichols at the initial moment he was to vacate his vehicle, the rest of the lengthy incident could have been avoided.
Fox News Digital's Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
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