Image: AP/dpa/Gerald Herbert
District Attorney Steve Mulroy said the officers, who have since been fired – also black people – are charged with murder, aggravated assault and kidnapping. Video material of the incident is to be published today – protests are then feared.
Prosecutor Mulroy said the officers had different roles in Tire Nichols’ death. “But you are all responsible for it.” The 29-year-old was stopped on January 7 for “reckless driving”. According to a family lawyer, he was then beaten up for minutes. Three days later, Nichols died in hospital. The five officers involved were fired on Wednesday. According to media reports, they have since been arrested.
Police said there was a “confrontation” after Nichols was stopped. He then fled on foot. There was another “confrontation”. Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she was shocked. “The incident was heinous, inconsiderate, inhumane. This is not just a professional failure. It is a failure of basic humanity towards another person.” This becomes clear in the video material.
Biden calls for peaceful protest
Lawyers for the family described the footage as “disgusting”. The police also used an electric taser and pepper spray against Nichols and tied him up. The 29-year-old suffered heavy bleeding from severe beatings after an autopsy commissioned by the family. According to the family, Nichols had worked for a courier company and was the father of a four-year-old son. The lawyers denounced the racist actions of the US police against black people in the country and recalled the Rodney King case: the African American was brutally beaten by the police in Los Angeles in 1991 after a chase. The acquittal of the officials led to riots with dozens of deaths. King himself died in 2012. President Joe Biden offered condolences to Nichols’ family. It deserves a prompt, full and transparent investigation. At the same time, he called for demonstrations to remain peaceful. “Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable.”
It is a fact that black people are more likely to be involved in deadly clashes with the police. Vice President Kamala Harris wrote on Twitter that the family and people of Memphis deserve responsibility. “And all Americans deserve a justice system that lives up to its name.”
In the United States, there are regular deadly police operations of a similar nature. The case of George Floyd is representative of this: the African American was killed in a police operation in Minneapolis in 2020. One of the police officers pushed Floyd’s knee back in the neck until he could not breathe. This case also led to nationwide protests.
Source: Nachrichten
