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Memphis police announced Saturday the dismantling of the task force involved in the fatal beating of Tire Nichols in early January. The publication on Friday of shocking images of the arrest of this young African-American by five police officers aroused horror and incomprehension in the United States.
As the United States is in crisis after video of the fatal arrest of Tire Nichols was revealed on Friday, Memphis police announced Saturday, January 28, the dismantling of the special unit involved in the early January fatal beating of the young man.
Police in Memphis, Tennessee, said in a statement “it is in everyone’s interest to permanently disband the Scorpion Unit.” “The police officers currently assigned to the unit have given their consent,” the statement added.
Tire Nichols’s family welcomed this decision through a press release from their lawyers, considering it “appropriate and proportionate to the tragic death” of their family member but also “decent and fair to all the citizens of Memphis.”
The shocking images of the fatal arrest of Tire Nichols, 29, by five African-American police officers have caused a commotion in the United States, without yet causing a social outbreak similar to that of the summer of 2020 -after the death of the African-American George Floyd- feared by The authorities.
Since his death in early January, his family has repeatedly called for calm. And ahead of the video’s release Friday night, which was picked up live and uncut by major television stations, President Joe Biden called his mother and stepfather and urged peaceful protests.
“Memphis has an opportunity to set the standard in responding to these types of acts”
Rallies ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred people were held Friday night in various cities, including Memphis, New York and Washington.
On Saturday afternoon, several dozen protesters gathered in the rain and cold outside Memphis City Hall, an imposing cinder-block building.
“Memphis has an opportunity to set the standard for responding to such acts,” City Council member JB Smiley told the crowd, calling for police reform.
To the tune of “no justice, no peace” and carrying signs demanding “justice for Tire Nichols,” protesters marched through the quiet streets of Memphis.
Earlier, neighbors gathered in the street had expressed their outrage after the publication of the images of the arrest. Robert Jones, 26, a downtown store clerk, viewed clips of the video. “It seems like a new year, but things don’t change,” he said, referring to police violence.
“Institutionalized Police Culture”
Video released by police shows an excruciating beating after a banal traffic stop on January 7 in Memphis. With their fists, kicks, and batons, the policemen chased the young man, sprayed him with tear gas and pointed a taser at him. At no point is Tire Nichols seen to retaliate. He tries to run away, he is caught. “Mom, mom, mom!” He yells in one of the excerpts.
The five police officers involved in this case were fired, charged with murder, and jailed. Four of them were later released on bail.
On Friday, while saying they were horrified, the family said they were “satisfied” with the charges brought against the five police officers and praised the “speed” of the action taken against them.
“It could have been me” instead of Tire Nichols, reacted after seeing the video Demarcus Carter, a 36-year-old African-American resident of Memphis, who expected the protests to be bigger. But once a trial has been held, “if the verdict is not correct then the demonstrations will be bigger,” he predicted.
This new death after an arrest has revived the debate on police violence in the country, where the memory of George Floyd, murdered in 2020 by a white police officer, is still alive, with the feeling that the large demonstrations that followed have not resolved anything. the problem.
Ben Crump, one of the lawyers for the Tire Nichols family and who had defended the family of George Floyd, blamed an “institutionalized police culture”: “It doesn’t matter if the policeman is black, Hispanic or white (… . ) There are unwritten rules that if a person is from a certain ethnic group, then they can be treated with excessive force,” he told MSNBC on Saturday.
*Article adapted from its original in French
with AFP
