Downtown Sacramento march remains peaceful after violent Tyre Nichols video releases
SACRAMENTO — Downtown Sacramento stayed calm on the first night after Memphis police released their video of the deadly beating of Tyre Nichols.
While Sacramento police had said they would be monitoring protests, there were no boarded-up businesses and no sense by the business community that they would be targeted in protests.
The Downtown Commons was all clear for families heading to an event at Golden 1 Center, and no extra police presence could be seen. There were no signs of protestors taking over city streets. Sacramento City Hall was also quiet after dark.
Downtown did see a small protest in the daytime. A crowd led by Stevante Clark, brother of Stephon Clark who was killed by police five years ago, hit the streets around the California State Capitol.
"Say his name! Tyre Nichols! Say his name! Tyre Nichols!" protesters chanted.
Officers stayed back, only redirecting traffic away from protesters.
Kymberlee Barlow was a friend of Tyre Nichols and left work early to join the march.
"It's just unreal to me," Barlow said. "I met Ty seven years ago. We worked at the mall together. He was one of the greatest, one of the greatest people you'll ever meet."
Before this group hit the streets, Clark and others watched the police video as it was released. Clark described what he saw.
"The video we just saw, a man was punched, and being punched, kicked, in being kicked, held up to be punched, thrown back down to be kicked, a baton is taken out, [he was] beaten with the baton while he's being punched and kicked," Clark said. "I don't want to hear nothing about bail reform anymore because four out of five [officers charged] are already out, less than 24 hours since they've been booked in."
As this city braces for outrage and backlash, so far, peaceful protest has prevailed.