The United States still remembers the widespread protests against police violence that shook the country in 2020 and 2021, not least after the high-profile cases in which Breonna Taylor and George Floyd were killed by police officers.
Now authorities and police fear that the death of Tire Nichols in Memphis in early January will lead to new protests that degenerate into violence.
President Joe Biden has come out and urged calm, as have local leaders and police. The fact that the five police officers accused of the death of yet another young black man have already been charged with manslaughter can hopefully dampen the violent mood.
Attorney Ben Crump and Tyre Nichols’ mother and stepfather, RowVaughn Wells and Rodney Wells, at a news conference Friday.Keep the kids away
At an emotional news conference Friday, Tyre Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, says she still doesn’t fully understand that her son is dead. At the same time, she warns other parents and asks them not to let their children see the videos.
“To the five police officers who murdered my son, I want to say this: you have brought shame on your own families with this,” she says, and then addresses all the parents:
— I haven’t seen the video, don’t want to, but from what I’ve heard it’s absolutely terrible. All of you who have children, don’t let them see the pictures.
Like soccer
Nichols’ stepfather, who has seen the police footage of the intervention, says in an interview with CNN that they show “a police officer kicking him a couple of times like he was a football.”
— To me, the most telling thing in the entire video is the fact that there were about ten police officers at the scene and no one tried to prevent what happened and no one helped him. They walked around and smoked as if nothing had happened, says stepfather Rodney Wells to the television channel.
He says the stepson ran from the police because he was afraid.
— Our son fled for his life. He didn’t run to get rid of drugs or guns, he was terrified. And when you watch the video, you’ll understand why.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis on Friday
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis has distanced herself from the officers’ intervention, which she calls “heinous, reckless and inhumane,” and has received praise for acting forcefully and quickly — including from Nichols’ family.
On Friday, she compared the images of Nichols to those showing police beating Rodney King in Los Angeles in 1991, images that sparked riots in the city the following year.
— I worked in the police at the time and this is very similar behavior. The pictures are on the same level, if not worse, she tells the news agency AP.
The 60-minute long video will be released on the night of Saturday, Swedish time.