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The parents of Tyre Nichols have accepted an invitation to attend President Biden’s State of the Union address next Tuesday.
Nichols’ mother and stepfather will be the guests of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is also calling for a meeting with President Biden in the wake of the 29-year-old’s brutal beating and death days later.
Horsford said he spoke with the family on Sunday ‘to first extend our condolences to them, to let them know that we stand with them, to ask them what they want from us in this moment.’
The lawyer representing the family of Tyre Nichols has urged Congress to immediately pass police reform laws that ban chokeholds in the wake of his death.
The parents of Tyre Nichols have accepted an invitation to attend President Biden’s State of the Union address next Tuesday
Rep Steven Horsford said his caucus would be reaching out to Sen. Tim Scott, the black Republican from South Carolina who spearheaded the failed police reform negotiations last go-around
Horsford said inviting the family to Biden’s high-profile yearly address ‘is about making sure that the President knows that this is an important enough issue for him to talk about at the State of the Union.’
‘Like so many, I was outraged and deeply pained to see the horrific video of the beating that resulted in Nichols’ death,’ Biden said in a statement on Friday.
The president will use his remarks before the joint session of Congress to set the tone for his agenda with two years left in his term and highlight upcoming legislative priorities.
Horsford said his caucus would be reaching out to Sen. Tim Scott, the black Republican from South Carolina who spearheaded the failed police reform negotiations last go-around.
Scott and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., could not reach agreement on a police reform package after the then-Democrat-led House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in 2021.
The 29-year-old FedEx worker was savagely beaten to death by five cops in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier this month, shocking footage released Friday showed.
Protests continued to sweep across the country last night calling for the police to be defunded after the five officers were fired and charged with murder pending a bond arraignment on February 17.
Ben Crump said he and the Nichols family spoke with President Joe Biden on Friday and urged him to use Nichols’ death to galvanize support for the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
Tyre Nichols is pictured handcuffed on the ground surrounded by cops during his violent arrest earlier this month
The bill, which aims to stop aggressive law enforcement tactics, passed the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives in 2021 but stalled in the Senate. Joe Biden on Thursday called on Congress to send the legislation to his desk.
‘Shame on us if we don’t use his tragic death to finally get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed,’ Crump told CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’
Crump said he and the Nichols family had spoken with President Joe Biden on Friday and urged him to use Nichols’ death to galvanize support for the act’s passage.
Nichols’ mother was coping with her son’s death by believing he was destined to change the world, Crump said on ABC’s ‘This Week’ on Sunday.
‘She believes in her heart Tyre was sent here for an assignment and that there is going to be greater good that comes from this tragedy.’
Nichols’ death is the latest high-profile example of police using excessive force against black people and other minorities.
Almost a thousand of people gathered at the Oscar Grant Plaza in Oakland, California, last night for protests
A BLM protester projects a ‘Defund The Police’ sign on to the side of the Oakland Police Department’s wall last night
Crump (pictured) said he and the Nichols family had spoken with President Joe Biden on Friday and urged him to use Nichols’ death to galvanize support for the act’s passage
Crump said Nichols’ death should finally prompt lawmakers to act.
‘It is this culture that says it doesn’t matter whether the police officers are black or Hispanic or white, that it is somehow allowed for you to trample on the constitutional rights of certain citizens from certain ethnicities and certain communities,’ Crump said on CNN.
Republican House of Representatives Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, appearing on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ cautioned against rushing into new legislation to create new mandates for police.
‘These five individuals did not have any respect for life. And again, I don’t think these five guys represent the vast, vast majority of law enforcement. But I don’t know if there’s anything you can do to stop the kind of evil we saw in that video,’ he said.
Nichols, 29, died three days after he was admitted to the hospital this month following a brutal beating by five Memphis Police officers
Nichols was admitted to the hospital in critical condition and died three days later
All five cops were fired on January 20 and on January 26 were arrested and charged with Nichols’ murder as well as kidnapping, assault and misconduct
Five officers, all black, are charged with Nichols’ murder after video captured on bodycams and a street surveillance camera showed them violently confronting Nichols on January 7.
Nichols was hospitalized and died of his injuries three days later in the city where he lived with his mother and stepfather and worked at FedEx.
The Memphis Police Department on Saturday disbanded the SCORPION unit to which the officers belonged, as protests took place in US cities a day after harrowing video of the attack was released.
Scorpion stands for Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace in our Neighborhoods.
The Memphis police chief, Cerelyn ‘CJ’ Davis, disbanded the unit on Saturday.
‘It is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the Scorpion unit,’ she said in a statement.
Prior to the move by Davis, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said it was clear that the officers involved in the attack on Nichols violated the department´s policies and training.
‘The world is watching us,’ Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said. ‘If there is any silver lining to be drawn from this very dark cloud, it´s that perhaps this incident can open a broader conversation about the need for police reform.’
Biden joined national civil rights leaders in similar calls to action.
‘To deliver real change, we must have accountability when law enforcement officers violate their oaths, and we need to build lasting trust between law enforcement, the vast majority of whom wear the badge honorably, and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect,’ the President said.
A GoFundMe set up for the Nichols family has already raised more than $1million in donations since it was created on Saturday.
The five unanswered questions
Days after sickening footage was revealed of the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, several questions remain including why he was pulled over in the first place and what was ultimately his cause of death.
The footage has left many unanswered questions about the traffic stop involving the black motorist and the role played by police officers who stood by as he lay motionless on the pavement.
The five disgraced Memphis Police Department officers have been fired and charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in Nichols’ death three days after the arrest.
The video released Friday also renewed questions about how fatal encounters with law enforcement continue even after repeated calls for change.
Days after sickening footage was revealed of the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, several questions remain including why he was pulled over in the first place and what was ultimately his cause of death
The recording shows police savagely beating Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx worker, for three minutes while screaming profanities at him in an assault that the Nichols family legal team has likened to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.
Nichols calls out for his mother before his limp body is propped against a squad car and the officers exchange fist-bumps.
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn ‘CJ’ Davis has said that other officers are under investigation, and Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner said two deputies have been relieved of duty without pay while their conduct is investigated.
Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, said the family would ‘continue to seek justice,’ noting that several other officers failed to render aid, making them ‘just as culpable as the officers who threw the blows.’
The arrest was made by the so-called Scorpion unit, which has three teams of about 30 street officers who target violent offenders in areas beset by high crime. The unit has since been disbanded.
What was the probable cause for the initial traffic stop?
Questions swirled around what led to the traffic stop in the first place.
One officer can be heard saying that Nichols wouldn’t stop and then swerved as though he intended to hit the officer’s car.
The officer said that when Nichols pulled up to a red light, the officers jumped out of the car.
‘We tried to get him to stop,’ the officer said. ‘He didn’t stop.’
Officers also initially said Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving, but on Friday police said there was no police evidence to back up such a claim.
Indeed, the video footage that was released only started after police confronted him at an intersection. The initial traffic stop does not appear to have been filmed but it is not clear why.
Chief Davis said the department cannot substantiate the reason for the stop.
‘We don’t know what happened,’ she said. ‘All we know is the amount of force that was applied in this situation was over the top.’
Nichols’s car is seen being pulled over at 8:24pm in south eastern Memphis on January 7
Why did the cops accused of murdering Nichols treat him so brutally – and did any of them know the victim previously?
After the first officer roughly pulls Nichols out of a car, Nichols can be heard saying, ‘I didn’t do anything,’ as a group of officers begins to wrestle him to the ground.
One officer is heard yelling, ‘Tase him! Tase him!’
Nichols calmly says, ‘OK, I’m on the ground.’
‘You guys are really doing a lot right now,’ Nichols says. ‘I’m just trying to go home.’
‘Stop, I’m not doing anything!’ he yells moments later.
Nichols is also initially compliant with the officers’ requests although he is confused by their hostility towards him and lies on the ground as told to while police try to handcuff him. It’s unclear if he had any prior encounters with any of the cops involved.
Nichols can then be seen running after an officer fires a Taser at him. His mother’s home, where he lived, was only a few houses away from the scene of the beating, and his family said he was trying to get there. The officers then start chasing Nichols.
Other officers are called, and a search ensues before Nichols is caught at another intersection. The officers beat him with a baton, kick and punch him, then pepper spray him with police anger towards him only growing.
Which officer did what during the violence that killed Nichols?
Security camera footage shows three officers surrounding Nichols as he lies in the street cornered between police cars, with a fourth officer nearby.
Two officers hold Nichols to the ground as he moves about, and then the third appears to kick him in the head. Nichols slumps more fully onto the pavement with all three officers surrounding him. The same officer kicks him again.
The fourth officer then walks over, draws a baton, and holds it up at shoulder level as two officers hold Nichols upright as if he were sitting.
‘I’m going to baton the f*** out you,’ one officer can be heard saying. His body camera shows him raise his baton while at least one other officer holds Nichols. The officer strikes Nichols on the back with the baton three times in a row.
The other officers then appear to hoist Nichols to his feet, with him flopping like a doll, barely able to stay upright.
An officer then punches him in the face, as the officer with the baton continues to hit him. Nichols stumbles and turns, still held up by two officers. The officer who punched him then walks around to Nichols’ front and punches him four more times. Then Nichols collapses.
Two officers can then be seen atop Nichols on the ground, with a third nearby, for about 40 seconds. Three more officers then run up, and one can be seen kicking Nichols on the ground.
As Nichols is slumped against a car, not one of the officers renders aid. The body camera footage shows one of them reaching down and tying his shoe.
Court records showed that all five former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, and Justin Smith — were taken into custody.
Second-degree murder is punishable by 15 to 60 years in prison under Tennessee law.
Why didn’t cops render aid to Nichols after he became unresponsive – and why did EMTs wait until 20 minutes after arriving to help him out?
It takes more than 20 minutes after Nichols is beaten and on the pavement before any sort of medical attention is provided, even though two fire department officers arrived on the scene with medical equipment within 10 minutes.
During the wait for an ambulance, officers joked and aired grievances. They complained that a handheld radio was ruined, that someone lost a flashlight and that multiple officers had been caught in the crossfire of the pepper spray used against Nichols.
Throughout the videos, officers make claims about Nichols’ behavior that are not supported by the footage or that the district attorney and other officials have said did not happen.
In one of the videos, an officer claims that during the initial traffic stop Nichols reached for the officer’s gun before fleeing and almost had his hand on the handle, which is not shown in the video.
After Nichols is in handcuffs and leaning against a police car, several officers say that he must have been high.
Later an officer says no drugs were found in his car, and another officer immediately counters that Nichols must have ditched something while he was running away.
After medics arrived on the scene it was a further 20 minutes before a stretcher was brought into view and an ambulance arrived.
It is not clear how much longer it was before Nichols was taken to the hospital.
A paramedic is seen leaning over Nichols asking, ‘What’d you have? We’re trying to get you straight, what’d you have?’ He is unable to respond and makes a gurgling noise
Nichols is seen propped up against the car, bloodied and barely conscious
What was Nichols’ cause of death?
Video released on Friday shows at least 10 cops and two paramedics milling about casually for nearly 20 minutes as Nichols lies on the ground critically injured.
He died in hospital three days later in intensive care on January 10 after suffering cardiac arrest and kidney failure as a result of his injuries.
Police were seen kicking him in the head twice with blood visible around his face.
Authorities have not released an autopsy report that would explain exactly which injuries killed him – and how they were inflicted.
An independent autopsy found he suffered ‘extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating.’
The video raises disturbing questions about the apparent lack of action from first responders to treat Nichols after he was kicked and punched in the head, struck three times with a metal baton, and twice sprayed with pepper spray in the face.
Paramedics arrived on the scene about five minutes after the assault on Nichols concluded, at which point he was handcuffed and slumped against the side of a car.
The video shows a paramedic leaning over Nichols asking: ‘What’d you have? We’re trying to get you straight, what’d you have?’
Nichols is heard making a gurgling noise, but appears unable to speak, although he had been heard speaking clearly and relatively calmly before the assault.
Officers at the scene were heard remarking that Nichols was ‘on something’ and ‘high as a kite’ as they wisecracked after the assault.
Cops may have advised the paramedics that Nichols was on drugs, though no evidence that he was has emerged in the weeks following the assault.
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