Reactions after the murder of Tire Nichols at the hands of 5 police officers in

Memphis

Peaceful protesters take to the streets

1-28-23.- Demonstrators returned to the streets of Memphis on Saturday with a largely peaceful stand against the elements of police culture that enabled the death of Tyre Nichols. His family had asked the crowds to remain nonviolent.

The Memphis Police Department said it has permanently deactivated its Scorpion unit, home to all five officers charged with murdering Nichols. Scorpion stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods.

Experts and veterans of police leaders said they saw a series of mistakes and aggressive tactics in the way Nichols was treated by Memphis officers. Experts emphasized they weren’t Memphis mistakes or Black police officer mistakes: They are elements of American police culture.

Even as protests continued, healing began as family and friends reflected on Nichols as an avid skateboarder and photographer. Sidewalk surfing on four wheels, his mother said, was his life’s passion.

Tyre Nichols was a father, a man who loved his mama, and a free-spirited soul who was looking for a new life in Memphis, Tennessee. That life was tragically cut short earlier this month after a violent arrest by five officers with the Memphis Police.

Now, as attention turns to the five former officers being charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ death, according to court documents, Nichols’ family wants the world to know the man Nichols was.

The 29-year-old was the baby of his family, the youngest of four children. He was a “good boy” who spent his Sundays doing laundry and getting ready for the week, his mother, RowVaughn Wells, says.

“He always said he was going to be famous one day. I didn’t know this is what he meant,” Wells said in a Friday press conference.

Wells says she will miss her son’s “beautiful smile” the most, she told CNN’s Don Lemon on Friday morning.

“I’ll never cook for my son again,” she said. “I’ll never get a hug from my son again. I won’t get anything from my son again, just because some officers decided they wanted to do harm to my son.”

Above all else, Nichols loved being a father and loved his son, his family said.

“Everything he was trying to do was to better himself as a father for his 4-year-old son,” attorney Benjamin Crump said at the family’s news conference.

Nichols was someone who brought everyone joy. “When he comes through the door, he wants to give you a hug,” Crump said, speaking on behalf of Nichols’ family.

“He was a good person,” Wells said. “All the good in Tyre will come out and so that’s what keeps me going because I just feel like my son was sent here on assignment.”

Nichols moved to Memphis right before the Covid-19 pandemic and got stuck there when things shut down, his mother said. “But he was OK with it because he loved his mother,” she added.

A trio of Tennessee Democratic state lawmakers on Saturday vowed that police reform legislation would be forthcoming in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ fatal beating at the hands of law enforcement.

State Rep. Joe Towns Jr., state House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons, and Rep. G. A. Hardaway, all of Memphis, held a news conference to announce the measures.

The three said it will address implicit bias training, limits on officers who face termination or discipline in one jurisdiction and then transfer to another, ongoing mental evaluation, access to information on bad or deceitful officers for juries, more selective hiring, reevaluation of the need to make arrests in traffic stops, and reevaluation of the need for low-level traffic stops themselves. Towns said,“Never should a traffic stop cause you to put on a wooden overcoat, a coffin, at some point. Never should that happen. So, we need to look at this very seriously.”

Hardaway said bills face an initial deadline of Tuesday. Towns said the lawmakers could have until early spring, otherwise, to develop and fine-tune any proposals that emerge from Nichols’ death.

“It’s truly unfortunate that legislation is required,” Clemmons said,“— that we would need to legislate humanity in 2023.”

Official Statement Of The Ethical Society Of Police

After viewing the body cam videos of the beating of Tyre Nichols, we see no justification for the response of these five individualstheir actions were horrible. Those were not police officers at the time of that beating. Those were five, angry black men who took their frustrations out on a helpless unarmed black man.

These five individuals disgraced the profession like those before them who behaved similarly. You disgrace the badge when you beat unarmed human beings. You disgrace the badge when you punch defenseless women. You disgrace the badge when you forget why you wear the badge. It’s hard enough being a black man in today’s society, but it’s twice as hard being a black police officer in today’s society.

We condemn the actions of these individuals who brutally beat a black man in the streets as if he was nothing. Black or white, beating a human being unmerciful must be met with the highest consequences under the law.

About The Ethical Society of Police

The Ethical Society of Police (ESOP) was founded in 1972 by African-American officers to address race-based discrimination in the community and with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. In 2018, the ESOP expanded to include membership for civilian and commissioned employees of law enforcement agencies within St. Louis County.

The Ethical Society of Police is an association of police officers and civilians whose mission is to bridge communications between historically marginalized communities and law enforcement. The ESOP works to improve: community/police relations, develop policies and programs to reduce crime, elevate the status of minority civilians and police officers, encourage greater minority employment by law enforcement agencies, and increase professionalism in law enforcement. Membership is open to all races, nationalities, religions, political affiliations, sexual orientations, and gender identities. For more information about the Ethical Society of Police, visit www.esopstl. org.