Tire Nichols, 29, has entered the long list of those killed in the United States by police brutality. It seems idle to say that he is African American. His death, after bumping into five uniformed men when he was driving, shows something unusual compared to most of these cases. The now ex-police officers, who after being expelled from the force were arrested this Thursday and accused of murder and other charges, are also black.
The meeting between the five agents and Tire occurred on January 7 at a traffic stop in Memphis (Tennessee), around 8:30 p.m. The driver was heading to his mother's house after finishing his workday at FedEx, the courier company. He died after three days in the hospital due to the beating he received, based on the autopsy report.
Video of the incident will be released to the public Friday night, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said. David Rausch, director of the Tennessee investigative office, assured that the images are more than eloquent. “They are absolutely appalling,” he stressed.
“I have been a police officer for over 30 years, I have dedicated my life to this profession and I am wronged, quite frankly. I am shocked and disgusted by what I saw, ”she maintained.
And he added, “I am going to be clear, what has happened here does not reflect an appropriate police task. It shouldn't have happened. It was wrong, it was criminal."
When the Nichols family and their lawyers saw that footage, made with uniform cameras, they compared it to the savage beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles in 1991, which ignited racial protests across the country.
Tire's mother, RowVaugn Wells, said she couldn't finish seeing those images. "All I hear is my son asking 'what have I done?' And then I lost it," she lamented.
Mulroy explained at a press conference that a grand jury had handed down the indictment and that, although each of the police officers played a different role in the alleged crime, he qualified that "the actions of all of them resulted in the death of Tire Nichols, everyone is responsible."
The crime of murder, the most important of the defendants, "is a knowing murder," the prosecutor remarked. When questioned about the kidnapping charge, Mulroy clarified: "It was a legal hold at first and it certainly morphed and became illegal at a certain point."
According to Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn J. Davis, "This is not a professional failure, this is a failure of basic humanity towards another individual, something egregious and reckless," she said. She specified that once the video is released, "you will see it with your own eyes."
This new fatality at the hands of the police has had a great resonance in the United States. President Joe Biden stressed that "fatal encounters with law enforcement officers have had an excessive impact on citizens of black and brown skin." In the statement he made a claim. "Tire's death is a painful reminder that we must do more to ensure that the justice system delivers on the promise of fair and just justice, equal treatment and dignity for all." He insisted that "we must recommit with the fundamental work that must be done to promote meaningful reforms.”
The five officers - Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith - were fired for violating department rules when dealing with Nichols by giving him the stop. The driver, who did not know why he had been stopped, came to a point where he tried to flee on foot. They hunted him down. They had to call an ambulance "due to respiratory problems" that took him to the hospital.
On the 10th he passed away. The police officials explained that the death was caused by the use of force in the confrontation with the uniformed officers. As soon as this situation occurred, those involved were withdrawn from service, a common procedure.
However, in a first review of the matter it was observed that the conduct of the police officers presented problems with respect to their allegations and Chief Davis indicated that immediate action should be taken. On the 20th, the names of the five police officers were publicly reported and they were expelled for "the excessive use of force, the duty to intervene and the duty to provide help."
Now as former police officers, the five were arrested this Thursday. Haley and Martin were being held on $350,000 bail, while Bean and Smith were being held on $250,000 each. Mills deposited the 250,000 and left this Thursday.
"No one that night tried to have Nichols killed, no one," replied attorney William Massey, Martin's defense attorney.
Another defense attorney, Blake Balln, who is representing Mills, criticized the harsh language of law enforcement officers in discussing the video. "Things like that are said when there is flammable material that worries us all," he added. “I have doubts about whether those were the right words to use, whether the timing was right, or whether the government should be telling people that you are innocent until proven guilty,” he concluded.
The Nichols family was relieved by the charges but acknowledged that there is still a way to go. "This gives us hope to move forward and that justice is done for Tyre," the family's attorneys, Benjamin Crump and Antonio Romanucci, said in a statement.
Reverend Al Sharpton, one of the most recognized leaders in the fight for civil rights, who will participate in Nichols' funeral next week, said in statements to The Washington Post that the race of the five former police officers is an addition to the tragedy. “This fact makes it crueler for all of us involved in the civil rights movement. These agents must not be allowed to hide their actions behind the color black. We are against any police brutality, not just white police brutality,” he stressed.
