“He was defenseless”: Black dies after police control in the USA

29-year-old Tire Nichols was beaten up by emergency services for several minutes, said one of the family’s lawyers, Antonio Romanucci, at a press conference on Monday (local time). According to the police, Nichols was stopped in early January in the US metropolis of Memphis, Tennessee, for “reckless driving”. According to the information, there had been “confrontations” – the man died a few days later in the hospital. On Monday, the victim’s family was able to watch the video of the police operation. “He was defenseless. All the time. He was a human piñata to these police officers,” attorney Romanucci said afterwards. He called the actions of the police racist. A piñata can be a figure that children usually hit with sticks until candy falls out.

The day after the check, on January 8, the police said in a statement that there had been a “confrontation” when the emergency services stopped the 29-year-old. He finally fled on foot, which led to another “confrontation,” the police wrote, without giving any specific information. The suspect eventually complained of shortness of breath and was taken to the hospital. There he succumbed to his injuries. The police have now released five officers involved in the operation, among other things because of “excessive use of force”. Video of the incident has not yet been made public but is expected to be made public in the coming weeks.

“My son was a good boy,” said the 29-year-old’s mother, RowVaughn Wells, at the press conference. He was a passionate skateboarder. “He just wanted to come home. He was two minutes from the house when they stopped him,” Wells said. The police “murdered” him.

Another family attorney, Ben Crump, compared the case to Rodney King. In Los Angeles in 1991, the black man was beaten up by the police after a chase. The acquittal of the officials led to riots with dozens of deaths. “Unlike Rodney King, Tire did not survive,” said attorney Crump. The video of the operation from the beginning of January was “terrible” and “disgusting”. “You can’t keep killing young black people at traffic stops,” Crump said.

In the United States, there are regular deadly police operations of a similar nature. The case of George Floyd is representative of this: In May 2020, the African American died in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis. The case led to nationwide protests against police violence and racism. Since then, there has always been dismay at similar cases.