Tyre Nichols’ attorney has urged lawmakers to implement urgent policy changes
In the aftermath of Tyre Nichols’ death, the lawyer representing his family has urged the US Congress to approve urgent police reform legislation.
Mr. Nichols, 29, was killed in January after being batter to death by five police officers.
Speaking to the press in the United States, Ben Crump encouraged President Joe Biden to use Mr. Nichols’ murder to obtain support for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
And he claimed Mr. Nichols’ mother was dealing with her son’s death by hoping for change.
“She thinks in her heart that Tyre was brought here for a purpose and that this tragedy would lead to the greater good,” Mr. Crump added.
After Mr. Floyd was slain by a white police officer kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was introduce in 2021. His killing prompted worldwide outrage.
The bill would impose a federal ban on police use of chokeholds and make it easier to punish violating officers.
The House of Representatives passed the law, which the Democratic Party then controlled, in March 2021, but it was later stalled in the Senate due to resistance.
“It will be a shame if we do not use his tragic death to ultimately pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act,” Mr. Crump told CNN. According to the lawyer, if the legislation does not change, police deaths will continue.
Derrick Johnson, head of the NAACP civil rights organization, urged lawmakers to act.
“You’re writing another obit by failing to write a piece of legislation,” Mr. Johnson said. “We can list all of the victims of police brutality, but we can’t name a single statute you’ve enacted to address it.”
However, Republican House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan advised lawmakers not to delay legislation.
“These five guys were indifferent to human existence… I’m not sure whether there’s anything you can do to prevent the kind of depravity exhibited in that video “He stated this on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Mr. Nichols was “extremely passionate about Black Lives Matter,” according to Ms. Paxton.
He was always trying to change things, she claimed. Just know that he’s up there grinning because he finally achieved what he always wanted to do if it provides anyone any consolation in the midst of all of our suffering right now.
The Memphis Police Department disband the so-called Scorpion special squad, of which the officers now accused of murder were members, on Saturday.
The unit was a 50-person team task with reducing crime, primarily car thefts and gang-related offenses.
“Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods” was the acronym for Scorpion.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III, and Justin Smith were all discharged from the Memphis Police Department last week.
According to jail records, four of the five paid bond and were freed from custody by Friday morning.
Mr. Martin and Mr. Mills’ attorneys have stated that their clients will plead not guilty.
Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis told BBC News on Friday that the Scorpion team was design to be “more sensitive” and “more proactive” to gun crime in the city. But she agreed that the officers who savagely attacked Tyre Nichols “decided to go off the rails.”
“We are conducting particular evaluations of all units,” she explained. “This is an essential stage. We want to be completely open and honest with the community.”
Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. stated that two deputy sheriffs who “came on the scene following”. The altercation have also been suspended until the completion of an internal inquiry.
