( CNN ) - In response to the revelation of the video showing the vicious beating of Tyre Nichols, 29, by Memphis police, protesters flocked to the streets once more over the weekend, and additional meetings and vigils are scheduled for Sunday.
In the footage of the January 7 incident, which starts with a traffic check and shows cops repeatedly striking the young Black guy with batons, punching him, and kicking him - including at one point while his hands are secured behind his back - Nichols can be heard begging for his mother.
Before a stretcher came, 23 minutes had elapsed as he lay still on the ground in handcuffs. After being admitted to the hospital, Nichols passed away three days later.
According to Nichols' family attorney Ben Crump, "all of these policemen breached their oath" on Sunday, Dana Bash of CNN said. "They broke their promise to uphold and serve." Was anyone attempting to defend and assist Tyre Nichols in that video?
On Saturday, protesters carried banners bearing Nichols' name and demanded a stop to abuses of power as they marched through cities around the country, including New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland.
"It's painful to watch the Tyre Nichols issue evolve the way that it has." Standing at a temporary monument close to the Memphis intersection where Nichols was attacked, Kiara Hill proclaimed, "I have a kid." And Tyre was the most composed of the officers present.
Since Nichols' passing, the backlash has happened rather quickly. In connection with the death of Nichols, the five Black Memphis police officers who were engaged in the assault were dismissed and charged with murder and abduction. The squad they were a part of was disbanded, and state legislators from the Memphis region started formulating legislation for police reform.
According to Crump, the swift dismissal, arrest, and publication of the video of the police officers should serve as a "blueprint" for future handling of claims of police brutality.
He praised Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis for appointing the officers and filing charges in less than 20 days.
"We want you to respond as quickly as possible when you witness police officers harming civilians." "As the chief mentioned, the community wants to see it, but we also need to see it when it's white police officers," added Crump.
Memphis police disband the SCORPION squad following the fatal assault
According to the Shelby County district attorney, the five former Memphis police officers who were arrested have been charged with second-degree murder and aggravated abduction, among other crimes.
The five cops, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin, and Desmond Mills Jr., are Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, and Emmitt Martin. They will be charged on February 17.
In a statement released Friday night, the attorney for Mills Jr., one of the officers charged, said that his client did not violate any boundaries "that others crossed" during the altercation.
According to Maj. Karen Rudolph, a spokesman for the Memphis police, all five of the officers were part of the Scorpion team, which has since been disbanded.
The team was established in 2021 and dispatched policemen to places where the police were monitoring increases in violent crime.
The Scorpion Unit will be permanently deactivated, Memphis police said in a statement announcing their decision to dismantle the group on Saturday.
It would be "putting lipstick on a pig" to dissolve the unit without providing cops with fresh training, city council chair Martavius Jones said on CNN on Saturday. Disbanding the unit, according to city council member Patrice Robinson, does not sufficiently address problems inside the agency.
We already have to battle the bad actors in our neighbourhood, but now we also have to battle our police officers. "That is regrettable," said Robinson. "We're going to need to take action."
The consequences of the fatal incident also affected other concerned agencies. In the meanwhile, two Memphis Fire Department workers who assisted with Nichols' first care were dismissed from their duties. Furthermore, two Shelby County Sheriff's Office deputies have been suspended pending an investigation.
Legislators want to submit reform bills.
Before the Tennessee General Assembly's Tuesday filing deadline, two Democratic state lawmakers said on Saturday that they intended to introduce legislation for police reform.
According to Rep. G.A. Hardaway, who represents a section of Memphis and Shelby County, the proposals would attempt to address hiring, training, punishment procedures, and mental health treatment for police enforcement employees, among other issues.
As early as April or May, according to Rep. Joe Towns Jr., who also represents a section of Memphis, legislation may be approved by the state house.
Even though Republicans have a majority of 99 members compared to 24 for Democrats, Towns claimed that all parties should support this measure since it is not political.
"It would be difficult to watch this tape (of Tyre Nichols) and not feel compelled to take action after seeing what happened to that young kid, OK. What the heck would happen if a dog in this county were to be beaten in that manner? States Towns.
Crump urged Congress to approve the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed the Democratic-controlled House in 2021 but failed to pass the Senate, which was equally divided at the time.
According to a news release issued by the Congressional Black Caucus leader Steven Horsford on Sunday, the group is asking for a meeting with President Joe Biden this week to press for discussions on police reform.
He said the public health crisis of police violence, which disproportionately impacts many of our communities, must be addressed by meeting with President Joe Biden this week to press for discussions on police reform.
He said the public health crisis of police violence, which disproportionately impacts many of our communities, must be addressed. "We are asking our colleagues in the House and Senate to kickstart conversations immediately and work with us to solve this," he added.
Tyre Nichols' violent beating constituted murder, and it serves as a sombre reminder that there is still more to be done to address systematic police brutality in America.
US Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois and the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, urged Congress to resurrect delayed national police reform legislation and said it was an excellent place to start.
"Sen. (Cory) Booker, chairman of the crime subcommittee, has been working on this for years, and it's the perfect place to start. Sen. (Tim) Scott and I ought to get together once more right away to see if we can revive that effort, but it is not sufficient in and of itself, in my opinion.
A national dialogue about law enforcement that is ethical, legal, and humanitarian is necessary, he added.
I'll never have another child.
Nichols' mother claims that by the time she saw her son in his hospital bed, severely swollen and bruised, she already knew he wouldn't survive. According to RowVaughn Wells, "When I saw it, I knew my son was gone, the end."
The mother, who was visibly in tears, claimed that the cops accused of her son's death "brought dishonour to their own family." They made the Black community seem bad.
"I'm not pregnant. "I'll never become a mother again," she declared. She said that she finds consolation in the fact that her son is a nice man. The youngest of four children in his family, the 29-year-old was also a father and a baby.
His mother described him as a "nice lad" who used Sundays to wash laundry and prepare for the week.
According to his family, Nichols adored being a parent to his 4-year-old kid. At the family's news conference, Crump added, "He was trying to better himself as a parent for his 4-year-old boy with all he was attempting to accomplish."
He frequently expressed the desire to become well-known. "I was unaware that this was what he meant," Wells admitted on Friday. As of early Sunday morning, a confirmed GoFundMe campaign established in Tyre Nichols' honour had amassed more than $936,000.
The mother of Nichols established the internet fundraising campaign, which states, in part, "My baby was simply trying to make it home to be safe in my arms." Throughout the whole interaction, Tyre was unarmed, non-threatening, and polite to the cops!
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