Tyre Nichols was a father to a 4-year old son and a joy to his family: Austin Roberts, a friend of Nichols stated, “He just touches anybody who gets around him.” Unfortunately, in yet another case of police brutality, the light that Tyre Nichols emitted has been cut short. In a vicious attack on January 7, Tyre Nichols was severely injured and three days later, he succumbed to his wounds.
Encounter
Nichols was a 29 year old with a bright future. He worked at FedEx and in his free time he was passionate about photography and skating. In fact, Nichols was reportedly returning from a park, after photographing the sunset, when the attack took place. He was allegedly pulled over for “reckless driving,” although the police have yet to substantiate the allegation. In the video released from the body cams, officers are shown dragging Nichols out of his car while yelling profanities. After a short chase, the officers were seen using pepper spray as well as their batons to beat Nichols, who lay defenseless. Nichols’ family attorney Antonio Romanucci likened the attack to that of a “MMA fight” against a helpless, defenseless, and restrained Nichols.
Philip Stinton, a criminal justice professor, stated, “It was not a normal traffic stop. They were not in marked vehicles, they were not wearing normal police uniforms, and they pulled him out of the car, got him down on the ground and pepper-sprayed him.” Police officers are trained to use the least amount of force necessary to apprehend the suspect but the videos released about this encounter show that caution seems to be the last thing on the officers’ minds. Stinton states that the officers’ primary directive didn’t seem to be to get Nichols in handcuffs; rather, they “seemed to have an interest in giving him a beating.”
SCORPION
The five officers in question, Tadarius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith, were all part of a specialized squad named SCORPION. The squad’s name stood for Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods, and the purpose of the squad was to reduce violent crimes.
All five officers have been relieved of duty and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnapping, two charges of official misconduct and one charge of official oppression.
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mullroy states that while each of the officers played a different role, they were all equally culpable in the heinous attack. However, while these five officers will be charged with crimes, this attack pleads the question of how something like this could even occur when there were so many other officials nearby. The fact that none of the other police officers thought to help or even intervene is a bone-chilling reality that faces the future of law reform in the United States.
