MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The pastor at the Memphis church where Tyre Nichols’s family spoke from the pulpit urging peace after his brutal killing reiterated the call for calm Sunday following the release of video showing the fatal beating by police.
Cities nationwide have braced for protests after body camera footage was released Friday showing Memphis officers beating 29-year-old Nichols, who died of his injuries three days after the Jan. 7 attack. However, protests in Memphis, New York City, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, have been scattered and nonviolent.
People attend Sunday services at Mount Olive Cathedral CME Church, as the death of Tyre Nichols, who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers, was brought up during services in Memphis, Tenn.
“We’ve had calm so far, which is what we have been praying for,” Pastor Kenneth Thomas said before the service began at Mt. Olive Cathedral Church. “And, of course, we hope that continues.”
Thomas also offered a prayer for Nichols’s family, asking God to “shower them with your blessings.”
Later, more than a dozen sign-carrying protesters marched to a Memphis police station not far from the beating, pounding on the door and demanding to be let in. Getting no response, they made their way to a nearby gate, guarded by three officers.
Demonstrators protest Sunday outside a police precinct in response to the death of Tyre Nichols, who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers, in Memphis, Tenn.
Some protesters taunted the officers with vulgarity, and all chanted: “Quit your job!” But the protest remained peaceful.
The protesters then observed a three-minute silence, designed to match how long Nichols was beaten.
When it concluded, protester Jennifer Cain yelled: “Say his name!” And the group responded: “Tyre Nichols!”
“Now, just imagine being beat by people that’s over 1,000 pounds on you and you’re only less than 150 pounds,” Cain said. “That’s three minutes of beating, screaming and yelling for his mom.”
“When does it stop?” she asked. “When does it end? Are we going to continue to let it happen?”
The loss is “still very emotional” for the family, a lawyer representing them said Sunday, but they are using all their energy to advocate for reforms both in Memphis and on the federal level.
“His mother is having problems sleeping but she continues to pray with the understanding, as she believes in her heart, that Tyre was sent here for an assignment, and that there will be a greater good that comes from this tragedy,” Attorney Ben Crump said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Crump welcomed disbanding the city’s so-called Scorpion unit, which Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis announced Saturday, citing a “cloud of dishonor” from the newly released video.
Davis acted a day after the harrowing video was released, saying she listened to Nichols’ relatives, community leaders and uninvolved officers in making the decision. Her announcement came as the nation and the city struggled to come to grips with the violence of the officers, who, like Nichols, are Black. The video renewed outrage over repeated fatal encounters with law enforcement despite nationwide demands for change.
Crump told “This Week” that Nichols’s case points to a systemic problem in how people of color are treated regardless of whether officers are white, Black or any other race.
The “implicit, biased police” culture that exists in America is just as responsible for Nichols’s death as the five Black officers who killed him, Crump said.
“I believe it’s part of the institutionalized police culture that makes it somehow allowed that they can use this type of excessive force and brutality against people of color,” Crump said. “It is not the race of the police officer that is the determinant factor whether they’re going to engage in excessive use of force, but it is the race of the citizen.”
He alleged other members of the Memphis community have been assaulted by the now-shuttered Scorpion unit, which was composed of about 30 officers whose stated aim was to target violent offenders in high-crime areas. The unit had been inactive since Nichols’s Jan. 7 arrest.
Scorpion stands for Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods.
The officers involved in Nichols’ beating — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — have been fired and charged with murder and other crimes in Nichols’s death. They face up to 60 years in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.
Memphis police stand behind a locked gate Sunday at a precinct as a group of demonstrators arrive outside to protest the death of Tyre Nichols, who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers, in Memphis, Tenn.
Video showed the officers savagely beating Nichols, a FedEx worker, for three minutes while screaming profanities at him. Nichols called out for his mother before his limp body was propped against a squad car and the officers exchange fist-bumps.
Brenda Goss Andrews, president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, told The Associated Press she was struck by the immediate aggression from officers as soon as they got out of the car. “It just went to 100. ... This was never a matter of de-escalation,” she said, adding, “The young man never had a chance.”
On a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden, Crump and Nichols’s parents discussed the need for federal reform like the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would prohibit racial profiling, ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants, limit the transfer of military equipment to police departments, and make it easier to bring charges against offending officers.
Biden said he told Nichols’s mother he would be “making a case” to Congress to pass the Floyd Act “to get this under control.”
Memphis Police had already implemented reforms after Floyd’s killing, including a requirement to de-escalate or intervene if they saw others using excessive force.
Speaking on “This Week,” Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said Congress can pass additional measures like “screening, training, accreditation, to up the game so that the people who have this responsibility to keep us safe really are stable and approaching this in a professional manner.”
Here is the timeline of events in the arrest and death of Tyre Nichols — and what's followed
Jan. 7, 2023
Updated
Jan. 7: Tyre Nichols is pulled over by police for an alleged traffic violation after photographing a sunset, according to accounts his family would give later. A confrontation ensues, and he is brutally beaten by five Memphis police officers in an encounter that is recorded by police body cameras.
Jan. 8
Updated
Jan 8: Memphis police say in a statement that officers attempted to stop a man for reckless driving on Jan. 7 and he was taken to a hospital in critical condition after two confrontations. The first description of what happened says one confrontation occurred when officers approached the vehicle and the suspect fled on foot. Officers pursued, and another confrontation occurred when they took him into custody, police said. The subject complained of shortness of breath and was taken to a hospital. Due to his condition, police contacted the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office, which asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to conduct a use-of-force investigation.
Jan. 15
Updated
Jan. 15: Police Chief Cerelyn Davis says she has reviewed information on the encounter and has decided to take immediate action by serving notice of policy violations to the officers involved.
Jan. 16
Updated
Jan. 16: Civil rights attorney Ben Crump announces he is representing Nichols’ family and calls on police to release body camera and surveillance video from the traffic stop. Meanwhile, protesters gather at the Civil Rights Museum to push for the release of police video and call for officers to be charged.
Jan. 18
Updated
Jan. 18: The U.S. Justice Department announces that it has opened a civil rights investigation.
Jan. 20
Updated
Jan. 20: The five officers involved in the arrest are fired after an internal investigation finds they used excessive force, failed to intervene and failed to render aid. They are identified as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith. All five are Black.
Jan. 23
Updated
Jan. 23: Nichols' family views the police video with their attorneys, who say it shows Nichols being beaten for three minutes in a “savage” encounter reminiscent of the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King. The video shows Nichols was shocked, pepper-sprayed and restrained after he was pulled over minutes from his home while returning from a suburban park where he had taken photos of the sunset. Crump says the family has agreed to investigators’ request to delay making the video public so as not to risk compromising the criminal investigation.
Jan. 24
Updated
Jan. 24: Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy says the release of police video will be carefully timed to avoid the chance that suspects or witnesses tailor their statements to what they saw in it and asks the public for patience. The timetable rankles activists who had expected the video to be released after Nichols’ family viewed it. Meanwhile, the Memphis Fire Department says two employees involved in the initial care of Nichols the night of his arrest have been removed from duty while the agency conducts an investigation.
Jan. 25
Updated
Jan. 25: Davis, the police chief, calls the officers' actions “heinous, reckless and inhumane” and makes a plea for people to protest peacefully when the video is made public. She says in a statement issued on social media that other officers are still being investigated for violating department policy and that “a complete and independent review” will be conducted of the department’s specialized units.
Jan. 26
Updated
Jan 26: The five officers are charged with murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Mulroy says they each played different roles in the killing but “they are all responsible.” Mulroy also announces that video of the traffic stop will be released to the public the following evening. Nichols' parents say they are satisfied with the charges against the officers. At an evening candlelight vigil, Nichols' mother pleads with supporters to “protest in peace” when the “horrific” video footage is released.
Jan. 27
Updated
Jan. 27: Memphis authorities release video footage showing Nichols being beaten by five officers who repeatedly strike him with their fists, boots and batons as he screams for his mother. The video is filled with violent moments showing the officers, who are also Black, chasing and pummeling Nichols and leaving him on the pavement propped against a squad car as they fist-bump and celebrate their actions. Protesters gather for mostly peaceful demonstrations in multiple cities including Memphis, New York and Washington.
Jan. 28
Updated
Jan. 28: The Memphis police chief disbanded the city's so-called Scorpion unit after some of its officers beat to death Tyre Nichols, reversing an earlier statement that she would keep the unit intact. The unit is composed of three teams of about 30 officers who target violent offenders in areas beset by high crime. It had been inactive since Nichols' Jan. 7 arrest.
