Five police officers were charged and jailed Thursday for murder following the early January death of an African-American man, just days after an arrest his family considers brutal, in the southern United States, according to court documents.
These police officers from Memphis, a large city in Tennessee, all African-American, are the subject of various charges, including murder, assault and kidnapping, according to the Shelby County jail record.
The young man died three days after his arrest.
On January 7, the police wanted to arrest Tire Nichols, a 29-year-old African-American, for a traffic violation. As officers approached, “a confrontation ensued” and “the suspect fled,” police said in a statement.
Tire Nichols was eventually arrested, but complained of having difficulty breathing and was hospitalized. He died three days later.
The details of this arrest are still unclear: there is a video of the events, but it has not yet been made public. But according to lawyers for Tire Nichols’s family, “the police beat him to the point where he was unrecognizable.”
“It is a pure and simple beating, without interruption, of this young man for three minutes,” Me Antonio Romanucci declared.
The five authorized agents
Lawyers for the victim’s family, including the famous Ben Crump, welcomed the police accusation. This news “gives us hope as we continue to demand justice for Tyre,” they commented.
The prosecutor’s press conference is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. local time (20:00 GMT) in Memphis. The case finds a particular echo in a country still marked by the death of George Floyd, in May 2020, and the Black Lives Matter demonstrations, against racism and police violence, which had followed.
All five accused officers were fired last week. The internal police investigation had shown that they had used excessive force. Other officers are still under investigation.
The officers involved are “directly responsible for the physical abuse committed against Tire Nichols,” Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said Wednesday, saying that “it was not just a professional error, but ‘inhumanity.'” “This act was heinous, irresponsible and inhumane.”
The video of the arrest will be made public soon.
Video of the arrest, which was shown to Tire Nichols’ family, is expected to be released in the coming days.
“I hope they are outraged” when they see these images, admitted Cerelyn Davis.
Considering the organization of demonstrations likely, the police chief called not to “incite violence or destruction.”
Source: BFM TV
