Editor’s note: This article contains graphic videos and descriptions of violence.
CNN
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Protesters took to the streets again over the weekend to denounce police brutality after a video was released showing violent Memphis police beating 29-year-old Tyre Nichols.
nichols was done In the video of the January 7th encounter, he can be heard screaming for his mother. It begins with a traffic stop and shows police officers repeatedly hitting, punching, and kicking a young black man with a baton. His hands were tied behind his back.
He was left handcuffed and slumped to the ground, and 23 minutes passed before a stretcher arrived at the scene. Nichols was eventually hospitalized and died three days later.
“All of these officers failed to take the oath,” Nichols’ family attorney Ben Crump told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday. “They broke their oath to protect and serve. Watch that video.” Has anyone tried to protect and serve Tyre Nichols?”
Demonstrators marched Saturday through other cities across the country, including New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, holding signs bearing Nichols’ name to end the abuse of power. I called out.
“It breaks my heart to see how events played out in this Tyre Nichols situation. I have a son,” said Kiara Hill, near the Memphis corner where Nichols was beaten. Standing at a makeshift memorial, he said, “And Tyre was the coolest of the policemen on the scene.”
After Nichols’ death, the backlash progressed relatively quickly. The five Memphis police officers involved in the beating (they were also black) were fired and charged with murder and kidnapping in Nichols’ death. Legislators began planning for the Police Reform Bill.
Crump said the swift firing and arrest of police officers and the release of the video should be a “blueprint” for how allegations of police brutality will be handled going forward. applauded Memphis Police Chief Selelyn Davis for arresting and indicting the officer within 20 days.
“If you see a police officer committing a crime against a citizen, you need to act quickly, just like the police chief said, and show that the community needs to see it, but that When is a white police officer, we need to see it too,” Crump said. .
These are the moments that led to Tire Nichols’ death
Five former Memphis police officers involved in the arrest have been charged with second-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping, among other charges, according to the Shelby County District Attorney.
Officers identified as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin, and Desmond Mills Jr. are scheduled to be arraigned on February 17.
Lawyers for Mills Jr., one of the officers charged, released a statement Friday night saying he did not cross the line “someone else crossed” during the confrontation.
Major Karen Rudolph, a spokesperson for the Memphis Police Department, told CNN on Saturday.
The Memphis Police Department announced on Saturday that it was disbanding the SCORPION unit, saying it was “in everyone’s best interest to permanently deactivate the SCORPION unit.”
But disbanding the unit without giving officers new training would be “putting lipstick on the pig,” City Council Speaker Martavius Jones told CNN on Saturday.
City council member Patrice Robinson also told CNN that disbanding the unit wasn’t enough to address issues within the agency.
“We have to fight bad players in our community, and now we have to fight our own police officers. It’s deplorable,” Robinson said. “We will have to do something.”
Repercussions from the deadly encounter extended to other agencies involved.
Two Memphis Fire Department employees who were part of Nichols’ initial care have been relieved of duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation. His two deputies at the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office have also taken leave pending an investigation.
On Saturday, two Democratic state legislators said they intended to introduce a police reform bill ahead of the Tennessee legislature’s deadline for submissions on Tuesday.
Rep. GA Hardaway, who represents parts of Memphis and Shelby County, said the bill seeks to address mental health care, employment, training, disciplinary practices, and other topics for law enforcement officers. rice field.
Rep. Joe Towns Jr., who also represents parts of Memphis, said the bill could pass the state legislature as early as April or May.
Democrats are in the minority with 24 seats, while Republicans have a majority with 99 seats, but Towns said the bill is not partisan and should be passed on both sides of Congress.
“Looking at this[Tyre Nichols]footage, it’s hard to tell what happened to that young man, OK, and I don’t want to do anything. Dogs in this county beaten like that.” What the hell is going on?” Townes said.
On domestic law, Crump called on Congress to pass Justice for George Floyd in the Peacekeeping Act. The bill passed his Democratic-controlled House in 2021, but did not pass the evenly divided Senate.
Congress’ black caucus is calling for a meeting with President Joe Biden this week to advance negotiations on police reform, caucus chairman Stephen Horsford wrote in a news release on Sunday.
“We urge our colleagues in the House and Senate to begin negotiations now and work with us to address the public health epidemic of police violence that disproportionately affects many of our communities. “Tyre Nichols’ brutal beating was murder and serves as a reminder that America still has a long way to go in solving systematic police violence,” he wrote.
Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on Congress to revive the National Police Reform Act, saying the previously stalled bill was a good starting point. rice field.
“This is the right place to start, and Senator (Colley) Booker, chairman of the Crime Subcommittee, has been working on this for years. I think we need to sit down again soon to see if we can restore policing, but it’s not enough: policing in a responsible, constitutional and humane way. We need a national conversation about what to do,” he said.
‘No OK here’: Former NYPD employee reacts to Memphis footage
When she saw her son swollen and badly bruised in a hospital bed, Nichols’ mother says she knew he wouldn’t survive.
“When I saw it, I knew my son was gone. It’s over,” Lawvaughan Wells told CNN.
The mother tearfully said the police officers charged in her son’s death “brought shame on their own families. They brought shame on the black community.”
“I don’t have a baby. I will never have a baby again,” she said. But she was relieved to know her son was a good person, she said.
The 29-year-old was a father, the baby in his family, and the youngest of four children. his mother said.
According to family members, Nichols really enjoyed being a father to his 4-year-old son.
“All he was trying to do was improve his status as a father to a four-year-old son,” Crump said at a family press conference.
“He always said he was going to be famous one day. I didn’t know this was what he meant,” Wells said Friday.
A verified GoFundMe campaign was launched to celebrate Tyre Nichols raising over $936,000 as of early Sunday morning. The online fundraiser was created by Nichols’ mother and in part read: During the encounter Tyre was unarmed, non-threatening and respectful of the police!”
