© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Tire Nichols memorial at the intersection of Castlegate Lane and Bear Creek Cove in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S., January 30, 2023. This memorial marks the area where Tire Nichols was politically charged. right Memphis poli beaten in a traffic block
By Brendan O’Brien
(Reuters) – The chief prosecutor of Shelby County, Tennessee, will review the case files of five former Memphis police officers who have been charged in the fatal beating of Tire Nichols, CNN reported on Friday, citing charges a statement from his office.
Shelby County District Attorney Steven Mulroy said in the statement that his office will review “all prior cases – closed and pending” of the five fired officers who face charges. faces second-degree murder, assault and kidnapping in the death of Nichols, a 29-year-old black man. -one-year-old father was brutally beaten by police after stopping his car on January 7.
“This is just the beginning,” Mulroy spokeswoman Erica Williams told CNN. “This is related to any criminal case [the officers] have joined in. It is any case of criminal charges brought by the DA at any time since they became officers.
The district attorney’s office declined to elaborate on Mulroy or Williams’ comments, except to reiterate that the investigation is ongoing and that additional charges in the case are likely.
Videos released by the city two weeks ago showed Nichols crying for his mother as five officers, also Black, attacked him with kicks, punches, batons and pepper sprayed him. The video ends with Nichols left handcuffed, covered in blood, and crumpled against the side of a police car for about 15 minutes before receiving medical attention.
Nichols died in the hospital three days later. The footage has led to a nationwide outcry and protests in several major US cities.
Civil rights advocates and attorneys for the Nichols family have condemned the beating as the latest case of an African-American being brutalized by a racially biased law enforcement system that targets people of color. disproportionately colored, even if the officers involved are not white.
On Friday, the family publicly called on the United Nations to condemn Nichols’ murder, calling for police transparency and demanding criminal charges against other officers involved in the incident, lawyers said. of the family said in a statement.
The statement, issued by the office of civil rights attorney Ben Crump, called for “urgent action regarding the torture and extrajudicial killing of Tire Nichols, an African-American from Memphis, Tennessee.”
More than two years ago, the brother of George Floyd, the black man who died under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis, sent a similar appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. in May 2020, sparking protests against racial injustice around the world. .
Floyd’s brother’s appeal helped inspire a 47-nation forum to unanimously pass a resolution put forward by African countries condemning policies of discrimination and violence around the world.
It also led to a report from the UN’s human rights chief a year later calling for an end to structured racism, and implementation of programs to compensate and prosecute law enforcement officials. law for unlawfully killing people of African descent.
The five Memphis officers charged with the murder of Nichols were members of SCORPION, a now-disbanded specialized police unit established in October 2021 to focus on crime hotspots. Critics argue that such specialized teams can be vulnerable to tactical abuse.
A sixth officer has been fired from the police department while seven other officers are expected to face formal disciplinary charges for their involvement in the Nichols case.
According to their personnel records, several of the officials who were fired received written reprimands or short-term suspensions for violating departmental policies.
