Tyre Nichols was a 29-year-old Black man who suffered a severe beating from multiple officers five of which were deemed “directly responsible.” Following the attack, Nichols was rushed to the hospital where he later died on Jan. 10. According to FOX News, police officers gave Nichols 71 commands within a time span of 13 minutes. All of these commands were yelled out before officially announcing that Nichols was in custody via radio.
Five former Memphis police officers– Desmond Mills, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin, Tadarrius Bean and Demetrius Haley – were charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault and other offences in connection to Nichols’ death. All five police officers are black men, and, the former officers are set to be charged in mid-Feb.
FOX News in addition states that along with those five officers, the Memphis police department relieved from duty a sixth officer, Preston Hemphill who participated in the initial traffic stop but was not directly involved in the first and second scenes where Nichols was physically abused and suffered severe injuries. Hemphill is not facing criminal or departmental charges.
Additionally, Memphis police have announced that there was a seventh officer who was also relieved of duty following Nichols’ death. However, this officer has yet to be identified.
Also included in this heinous act is the Memphis fire department, they sent out three EMTs to go and offer help to Nichols; two of whom are Black the other being White. After an investigation, the Memphis fire department was found faulty in their abilities.
“[The Memphis fire department] failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment on the victim,” Fire Chief Gina Sweat said in an interview administrated by FOX News.
According to NPR after all of this information was brought to light, protests occurred in multiple cities. Most of the protests remained peaceful, displaying marches and chants disapproving of police brutality. The protesters even shut down the I-55 bridge. There, they chanted “no justice, no peace” and “justice for Tyre.” Police brutality has been a concern in the United States for a while. Unfortunately, as time passes, this issue has not improved.
