Beaten to death by five black Memphis police officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith, 29-year-old Tyre Nichols died in the hospital after laying lifeless in the street. FBI Director Christopher Wray, who’s seen the video, called the beating “appalling,” attesting to the horrific nature of police brutality. Had any of the officers been white, who knows what would happen with Black Lives Matter and other activist groups, used to protesting police brutality for months following the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd. Activist groups like to protest racism or white supremacy but don’t know how to protest in the wake of black-on-black police brutality. President Joe Biden, 80, said he would work with Congress to get the George Floyd Act passed “to get his situation under control,” not sure what Biden meant by “this situation.”
George Floyd’s death was blamed largely on white police officers, something that can’t happen with Tyre Nichols because of his beating by his own community. When race riots break out following white-on-black police brutality, it’s assumed the misconduct was due to racism. But Tyre’s death was clearly due to police brutality, where peace officers deviate from established policing to deliver excessive force.
Recordings of the incident confirm that Memphis police officers at the scene went overboard with excessive force. “This young man, by definition of the law in this state, was terrorized. Not by one, not by two, but by five officers who we now know . . . acted in concert with each other,” said attorney Antonio Romanucci who represents the family. Memphis Police Director Cerelyn Davis called the five officers’ actions “heinous, reckless and inhumane,” making no excuses.
Davis said the video of the incident shows the officers “already ramped up, at about a 10,” she said. Davis said the officers were “aggressive, loud using profane language and probably scared Mr. Nichols from the very beginning.” Davis made no excuses for her officers, all of whom have been arrested. “All we know is that the amount of force that was applied in the situation was over the top,” Davis said, acknowledging the obvious. Davis hopes with the video of the incident going viral that community does not overreact, especially knowing that the officers involved are under arrest. “I don’t want us burning up our city, tearing up the streets, because that’s not what my son stood for,” said RowVaughn Wells, Nichol’s mother. Patrick Yoes, national director of the fraternal order of police, condemned the police about in the strongest possible terms.
Memphis police officers, currently in jail, face a multitude of charges, including second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, officials misconduct and official oppression. Martin’s lawyer, William Massey and Mills’ lawyer Black Kallin, said their clients would plead not guilty. “No one out there that night intended for Tyre Nichols to die,” Massey said. Whatever Massey’s statements, it’s up to a jury to determine intent but, even so, second-degree murder doesn’t involve premeditation. Police officers must apply strict rules when it comes to applying lethal force. Looks like Nichols was tased in addition savagely beater to death. At age 29, it takes a lot of police abuse to beat someone to death. No one thinks that the Memphis officers followed police training and procedures when it came to using force to execute an arrest, supposedly for reckless driving.
Reactions to Nichol’s beating deaths came from far-and-wide wide denouncing the police officers’ use of excessive force. “The event as described to use does not constitute legitimate police work or a traffic stop gone wrong. This is a criminal assault under the pretext of law,” said Patrick Yoes, president of the Fraternal Order of Police. So many incidents, contrary to what victims think, are not about racism but poor police practices, bad training or panic by police officers. Rarely does racism, even with George Floyd’s with renegade cops in his death, play a part in excessive force. Community activists too often attribute a lack of training or appropriate policing to racism, when, in fact, officers get caught up in the moment, panic, get into group think when then should follow standardized police practices. Rioting in response to mishaps does nothing other that makes a bad situation worse.
Nichols legal team, led by Romanucci and civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, said Nichols was tased, pepper sprayed after a routine traffic stop. Whatever beating the video shows, there’s no excuse for trained and ordained police officers to deviate from their training and go rogue, all because they can. Chief Davis confirmed that all the officers will be subjected to “a complete and independent review,” beyond the departments own internal affairs investigation. “Nichols “at all times was an innocent victim,” Romanucci said. “He did nothing wrong. This scorpion unit was designed to saturate under the guise of crime fighting and what it would up doing instead was creating a continual pattern and practice of bad behavior,” Romanucci said. Before activists turn this into an indictment of all responsible policing, Memphis must deal with its own failed practices.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
