Police Brutality and Tyre Nichols
Trigger Warning: descriptions of beating, violence, and death
Many were devastated yet again when news broke out about the brutal beating and murder of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols at the hands of five police officers in Memphis, Tennessee. This is not the first time that American police have abused their power, resulting in the killing of an innocent Black man due to racial profiling and false allegations.
It was a typical night for Nichols when suddenly, police officers pulled him over near his home under allegations of reckless driving. When the officers abruptly started to forcefully remove him from his car, he began running from them and said that he just wanted to go home. In response, officers pinned him to the ground, threatening to beat and tase him. According to the bodycam footage, he was heard telling the officers, “You guys are really doing a lot right now,” as they pinned him to the ground.
For the next three minutes, the five police officers punched, kicked, slapped, pepper-sprayed, and beat Nichols with their batons. Nichols pleaded for his life and asked for his mother, who lived nearby, numerous times, yet police officers continued to arbitrarily beat him to death. Footage even showed three officers lifting and holding him up as a fourth pummeled him in the face and torso, egged on by the fifth officer encouraging them from the side. After this, the police cuffed him and left him slumped on the side of their car for 20 minutes, returning to kick him from time to time during this period.
When Emergency Medical Services (EMS) finally arrived at the scene, they did nothing to alleviate his condition for 19 minutes until paramedics came and took Nichols to the hospital. He remained in critical condition until he eventually died three days later due to excessive blood loss from the severe beating. The five officers were fired and later charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, and abuse of power and weapons to inflict bodily harm. Despite this, is it not guaranteed that they will be convicted, especially since they have all decided to plead not guilty. The three fire department officials who were in charge of attending to Nichols were also fired for failing to properly aid his injuries. This sparked a wave of further investigations on who else was involved, resulting in the dismissal of two more police officers who remained at the traffic stop location but made inappropriate comments about wishing for a beating on Nichols.
Nonetheless, no amount of years in prison will ever be enough to obtain justice for Nichols. It will never be enough to erase the pain of his family nor the pain he felt as he was beaten to death by the very same people that claim to protect society. It will never be enough as long as innocent people of color continue to die at the hands of a racist justice system. The police are often quick to label Black people as “thugs” and “gangsters,” yet time after time the police’s actions prove that they themselves are the violent ones. Atrocities like this should serve as wake-up calls for this country, motivating people to not only acknowledge, but to also take action against the inherent racism in our police system.