On the night of Jan. 7, Tyre Nichols was on his way home from photographing the sunset at a suburban park in Memphis when he was pulled over and brutally beaten by five police officers. Three days later, Nichols died from internal bleeding sustained during the traffic-stop-turned-gruesome-assault. This incident marks the latest in the United States’ continuing epidemic of police brutality toward minority communities.
The official investigation into the murder of Nichols significantly progressed this week as the five police officers were charged with multiple felonies including murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, official misconduct and official oppression on Thursday, Jan 26. The officers had earlier been dismissed from the Memphis Police Department following an internal investigation.
All five officers were a part of the SCORPION unit, standing for ‘Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods’, which was permanently disbanded on Saturday, Jan. 28. Formed in Oct. 2021, the unit was concentrated on mitigating crime hotspots; previous research suggests specializing policing units such as SCORPION are often prone to abusive tactics.
The decision to disband the SCORPION unit came after release of graphic footage on Friday, Jan. 27, depicting the brutal assault of Nichols which led to his death. The video, obtained from three body cameras and a nearby utility pole traffic camera, shows Nichols repeatedly kicked, punched, and beaten with a baton just minutes from his mother’s house.
After being stopped on Jan. 7 for ‘reckless driving’, officials forced Nichols out of his car and pushed him to the ground. Despite showing no resistance while pleading to the officers to stop, the police further threatened him and only minutes later one officer pepper sprayed Nichols in the face. Able to squirm free, Nichols fled but eight minutes later was caught and tackled to the ground. After this, footage shows the officers brutally assaulting Nichols for three minutes. Several times Nichols attempted to protect himself, but the sheer number of officers and strength of their beatings caused severe internal bleeding.
Concurrent to the video’s release on Friday, the Memphis Police Department Chief clarified an internal investigation had found no evidence to support the officers’ claims Nichols had been driving recklessly.
Following the release of the footage, protests across the U.S. called for further local, state, and federal investigations as well as police reform legislation. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Justice Department are currently undertaking investigations, including a civil rights inquiry, into the murder. Protesters and Nichols’ family have called for inquiries into the medical response given it took 26 minutes for EMTs to take Tyre to the emergency room.
Protesters in Denver echoed such calls for reform and solidarity with Nichols’ family on Saturday evening after congregating at the State Capitol.
On a federal level, President Joe Biden released a statement calling for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act after the measure failed in 2021. Biden also acknowledged the emotional trauma Black and Brown communities must confront in face of such continued, senseless acts.
“It is yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day.”
In response to Nichols’ death, congresspeople from across the aisle have also called for renewed legislative efforts to address police reform. Both Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) responded to the footage release, stating the incident represents a basic lack of respect for human life. Both Dubin and Jordan concurred legislative reform is only the first step in a long road towards addressing policing culture.
“We’ll look at what we think makes sense to help this, to make sure they have the proper training, but no amount of training is going to change what we saw in that video,” said Jordan.
While marking yet another incident of police brutality, Tyre Nichols’ death came as a shock to his family who remembers him as a lively and community-focused young man. Only 29-years-old, Tyre had recently obtained a job with FedEx while maintaining his commitment to family, often visiting his mother during his lunch breaks. As a father to a 4-year-old boy, Tyre had a creative spirit and was often found skateboarding and photographing sunsets. On his photography website, Tyre was clearly passionate about capturing the beauty of the world around him.
“My vision is to bring my viewers deep into what I am seeing through my eye and out through my lens. People have a story to tell, why not capture it.”
