Paramedics who were on the scene at some point at the Tire Nichols traffic stop “failed to provide proper care,” Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said.
“Based on the video, they didn’t provide proper care, and that’s just based on my assessment,” she told CNN on Friday in her first interview since the incident.
After “minutes” the care came, she said, adding that it was “worrying for all of us, we see so many cases of failure, no matter what the reason, individuals are not doing our part — — whether we have a duty of care.”
Davis noted that the fire chief also quickly began investigating their actions at the scene.
Nichols “bleeded profusely from the violent beatings,” according to the preliminary results of an autopsy commissioned by the family.
“We can say that preliminary findings indicate that Thiel was bleeding profusely from being violently beaten and that his observed injuries are consistent with what family members and attorneys witnessed in video of his fatal encounter with police officers on January 7, 2023,” lawyer Benjamin Crupp said in a statement.
CNN has asked Crump for a copy of the autopsy commissioned by the family, but he said the full report is not yet ready. Officials have not released the results of Nichols’ autopsy.
CNN’s Alisha Ebrahimji contributed to this article.