Lawyers: Cops Beat Black Man Like a ‘Human Piñata’

Attorneys for family of late Tyre Nichols, 29, are comparing his beating to Rodney King incident

By Newser Editors and Wire Services

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Rodney Wells, right, stepfather of Tyre Nichols, who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers, is comforted by Bishop Henry Williamson after a news conference in Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Memphis police officers beat motorist Tyre Nichols for three minutes, treating him like “a human piñata” in a “savage” encounter reminiscent of the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King, attorneys for the family said Monday. Attorney Ben Crump said police video viewed by the family on Monday showed that Nichols was shocked, pepper-sprayed, and restrained after the 29-year-old FedEx worker and father was pulled over on Jan. 7, minutes from his home while returning from a suburban park where he’d taken photos of the sunset. Crump said the video shows the encounter was “violent” and “troublesome on every level,” while fellow attorney Antonio Romanucci called it “savage” and out of proportion to the alleged offense.

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