Tyre Nichols funeral LIVE: Thousands mourn man killed by Memphis police on video

The Memphis Police Department has fired five of the officers, who also are Black, over the horrific arrest.

Justin Smith, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, Demetrius Haley and Tadarrius Bean were charged last week.

Prosecutors charged them last week with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression. They will appear for a bond hearing on February 17.

Two other officers implicated in the events leading to Nichols' death have been relieved of duty - effectively suspended - and are under investigation.

Lawyers have questioned why Preston Hemphill, the only white officer involved, was not criminally charged.

In the arrest video, Hemphill is seen 'violently pulling Nichols from his car while hitting him on the ground with a taser, later saying, "I hope they stomp his a**" after Nichols ran away', the family's lawyers said. He was not present at the second beating scene.

Two paramedics and their on-scene supervisor were dismissed on Monday from the city fire department, while two Shelby County sheriff's deputies have been suspended.

Police video of the confrontation released by the city on Friday showed officers dousing Nichols with pepper spray and pummeling him with punches, kicks and baton blows as he cried out for his mother. One officer was seen firing a Taser stun gun at Nichols when he attempted to flee.

The footage ends showing Nichols was left handcuffed, bloodied and slumped against the side of a police vehicle for nearly a quarter-hour before receiving medical attention.

The chief of police, Cerelyn Davis, has called the conduct seen in the video "inhumane" and said investigators have not substantiated that Nichols was driving recklessly when he was pulled over, as arresting officers asserted at the time.

Civil rights advocates and lawyers for Nichols' family have condemned the beating as the latest case of an African American brutalized by a racially biased law enforcement system that disproportionately targets people of color, even when officers involved are non-white.

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton invoked Martin Luther King's iconic Mountaintop speech on the eve of the funeral.

The reverend stood beside the late 29-year-old's parents at the historic Mason Temple Church of God in Christ in Memphis last night, where Dr King delivered his final speech the night before he was assassinated.

Sharpton said last night: 'They're standing on that ground because we will continue in Tyre's name to head up to Martin's mountaintop. 

'That's why we wanted to start this right on this sacred ground. This is holy ground. And this family now is ours and they're in the hands of history, and they're in the hands of those that would fight.'

Family members also shared remembrances and expressed their grief following the shocking death last month of the FedEx worker who was brutally beaten to death by Memphis cops. 

Nichols' older brother, Jamal Dupree, lamented he was not there to save his brother from the attack he suffered at the fists and feet of the five officers, who have been charged with second-degree murder and other offenses.

'I've been fighting my whole life and the one fight I needed to be here for, I wasn't here,' said Dupree, adding that violence was against his brother's nature.

'My brother was the most peaceful person I've ever met in life,' he said. 'If my brother was here today and he had to say something, he'd tell us to do this peacefully.'

In just five days since the fundraiser was set up, more than $1.3million has been donated to the family of Tyre Nichols.

The money will be spent on a skatepark in his honor, and to help the family as they continue their fight for justice.

Celebrities including Love Song singer Sara Bareilles, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk and comedian Lil Rel Howery each donated $1,000.

Mr Nichols' funeral will be today at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church at 10.30am local time, with 2,500 expected to attend including Vice President Kamala Harris, who was invited by the family.

VP Harris spoke by phone with the Wells family on Tuesday, expressing her condolences and offering her support. President Joe Biden spoke by phone to Nichols' family last week.

Harris will be joined by former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a senior adviser to the president for public engagement, and Mitch Landrieu, a White House senior advisor and infrastructure implementation coordinator, who is a former mayor of New Orleans.

Others expected to be in attendance include Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, and Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd.

The deaths of Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and Floyd in Minneapolis, at the hands of police sparked protests across the nation about racial injustice.

The service will be presided over by pastor J. Lawrence Turner, and civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton will deliver the eulogy.

Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old skateboarder and amateur photographer who worked making boxes at FedEx, moved from Sacramento, California, to Memphis, Tennessee, just before the Covid pandemic.

On January 7, police carried out a routine traffic stop on Mr Nichols - the reason for the stop is not yet clear.

After pulling him out of the car, the team of Memphis cops proceeded to punch, kick, tase and pepper spray him as he lay defenseless on the ground.

Mr Nichols was left bloodied and bruised and barely conscious and was hospitalized with his injuries.

He died three days later.

His death, the latest in a series of Black civilians killed by police, has sparked protests across the country and calls for reform.

CCTV and bodycam footage released last week only heightened the anger, showing the brutality of the cops.