Black Lives Still Matter, Con't

His name was Tyre Nichols, and he was beaten so badly at a January 7th traffic stop by five Memphis PD officers that he died three days later. The assault was of such a brutal nature that the Memphis PD fired all five officers on Friday.

 

The Memphis Police Department has terminated five police officers in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols, who passed away in a hospital after being arrested by police earlier this month, according to a post from the department’s verified Twitter account.

“The egregious nature of this incident is not a reflection of the good work our officers perform, with integrity every day,” Police chief Cerleyn “CJ” Davis said in a statement.

Investigators working on an internal review of the arrest found the officers violated policies for use of force, duty to intervene and duty to render aid, the chief said.

Nichols’ family voiced its approval of the terminations, according to a statement from their attorneys.

“We join Tyre’s family in supporting the Department’s decision to terminate the five officers who brutalized him, ultimately causing his death. This is the first step towards achieving justice for Tyre and his family,” attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci said. “They must also be held accountable for robbing this man of his life and his son of a father.”

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into whether the officers’ actions were criminal in nature.

“Due to the ongoing criminal investigation, the Memphis Police Association will not comment on the termination of officers in the Tyre Nichols case,” the union representing the officers said. “The citizens of Memphis, and more importantly, the family of Mr. Nichols deserve to know the complete account of the events leading up to his death and what may have contributed to it.”

Also, the Department of Justice and FBI have opened a civil rights investigation.

 

The city is expected to release footage of the police body cameras on Tuesday.

 

Years after George Floyd was killed by police, we still have cops ending the lives of Black folk for the crime of being Black folk. Unarmed Black people are still dying in the streets. Officers rarely face consequences for their murderous actions.

 

What makes this case a bit different is all five officers involved in Nichols's death are Black as well. I can understand wanting to protect your own neighborhood and joining the police force, in fact more police departments need Black officers from Black neighborhoods nationwide, but it also means the "us versus them" mentality you'll find in any PD squad room means you'll have Black officers still killing Black citizens. It's a special kind of hell, a job that makes you kill your own.

 

Black Lives Still Matter.