What we know about Tyre Nichols - the father beaten by police ...

Tyre Nichols was stopped by police in Memphis, beaten by five officers and died three days later in hospital.

He had been pulled over reportedly for a traffic stop but was then hauled out of his car, tasered and beaten, leaving him in a critical condition.

Video footage of the incident on 7 January this year has now been released by authorities in the US prompting a wave of protests across the country.

People gather to protest against the police assault of Tyre Nichols at Times Square in New York, United States. (Photo: Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty) Images)Who was Tyre Nichols?

Tyre Deandre Nichols was a 29-year-old African-American man who had been driving home on the evening of 7 January when he was stopped by police.

It was initially claimed by Memphis police he had been stopped for reckless driving, but Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis later stated after reviewing footage of the incident they had not been able to substantiate a “probable cause”.

A keen skateboarder and photographer, he had a four-year-old son and worked full-time for FedEx with his stepfather.

His mother RowVaughn Wells described her son as “a beautiful soul” who had her name tattooed on his arm.

“Nobody’s perfect, nobody”, she said, “But he was damn near. He was damn near perfect.”

RowVaughn Wells, mother of Tyre Nichols, at a news conference in Memphis, USA. (Photo: Gerald Herbert/AP)

The baby of the family, he was born 12 years after his closest sibling, and had moved to Memphis from Sacramento, California in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I know everybody says they have a good son or that everybody’s son is good, but my son? He actually was a good boy.”

Friends at a memorial service this week described him as joyful and lovable.

“This man walked into a room, and everyone loved him,” said Angelina Paxton, a friend who travelled to Memphis from California for the service.

Skateboarding was a hobby he had pursued since the age of six, growing up in California.

His stepfather Rodney Wells said he had joked with his stepson that he would have to give it up now he had a job.

“You’ve got to put that skateboard down,” he said he told him, “You’ve got a full-time job now.

“He looked at me like ‘Yeah right’ because that was his passion.”

His other great passion was photography, particularly sunsets, and he would go to Shelby Farms Park on the outskirts of Memphis most nights to capture the moment.

“Photography helps me look at the world in a more creative way. It expresses me in ways I cannot write down for people,” he wrote on his website.

He preferred landscapes and loved the glow of sunsets most, his family has said.

It is believed he had been returning from the park on the night he was stopped by police.

How did he die?

According to a preliminary independent post-mortem commissioned by the family, Mr Nichols suffered “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating.”

His family said he was beaten like a “human piñata”.

Taken to hospital in a critical condition, he died three days later on 10 January due to injuries sustained in the “use-of-force incident with officers,” according to a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation statement.

Authorities have not yet released details of an official post-mortem.

However, footage of the incident on the evening of 7 January has revealed he was pepper sprayed, tasered, beaten, kicked and punched by police officers, who were part of a special unit targeting street crime.

He was heard crying out for his mother as he was being beaten by the officers. He was about 100 yards from his home at the time of the incident.

Claims he was under the influence of drugs and tried to reach for one of their guns have not been supported by evidence from film footage.

His family said he had Crohn’s Disease, and though 6ft 3in tall, weighed just over 10 stone.

The five former Memphis police officers charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in the arrest and death of Tyre Nichols. (Photo: Memphis Police Department /AP)

Describing what she saw when she arrived at the hospital to see her son, Mrs Wells said: “He had bruises all over him.

“His head was swollen like a watermelon. His neck was busting because of the swelling. They broke his neck.

“My son’s nose look like a S. They actually just beat the crap out of him.”

Five Memphis Police officers, all of whom are black, have been fired after an internal investigation and are facing criminal charges including second-degree murder.