Jan 29 (Reuters) – The lawyer representing the household of Tyre Nichols, the Black man who was fatally overwhelmed by Memphis law enforcement officials, referred to as on Sunday for the U.S. Congress to move police reform laws, and mentioned Nichols’ mom hoped the tragedy may result in a “better good.”
“Disgrace on us if we do not use his tragic dying to lastly get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act handed,” Ben Crump advised CNN’s “State of the Union.”
All 5 officers are scheduled to look for a bond arraignment on Feb. 17 at 9 a.m. in entrance of Choose James Jones of the Shelby County legal courtroom, courtroom data present.
Crump mentioned he and the Nichols household had spoken with President Joe Biden on Friday and urged him to make use of Nichols’ dying to impress assist for the act’s passage.
Nichols’ mom was coping together with her son’s dying by believing he was destined to vary the world, Crump mentioned on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
“She believes in her coronary heart Tyre was despatched right here for an project and that there’s going to be better good that comes from this tragedy.”
The “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act” was launched in 2021 after George Floyd died when a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for greater than 9 minutes, sparking worldwide protests over racial injustice.
The invoice, which goals to cease aggressive legislation enforcement techniques, handed the Democratic-controlled U.S. Home of Representatives in 2021 however stalled within the Senate. Biden on Thursday referred to as on Congress to ship the laws to his desk.
[1/7] Rodney Wells, a stepfather, and RowVaughn Wells a mom of Tyre Nichols, a younger Black man who was killed throughout a visitors cease by Memphis law enforcement officials, take the stage with their lawyer Ben Crump, throughout a information convention at Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S., January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer
Nichols’ dying is the most recent high-profile instance of police utilizing extreme power towards Black folks and different minorities. Crump mentioned Nichols’ dying ought to lastly immediate lawmakers to behave.
“It’s this tradition that claims, `It would not matter whether or not the law enforcement officials are Black or Hispanic or white, that it’s one way or the other allowed so that you can trample on the constitutional rights of sure residents from sure ethnicities and sure communities,`” Crump mentioned on CNN.
Republican Home of Representatives Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, showing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” cautioned towards speeding into new laws to create new mandates for police.
“These 5 people didn’t have any respect for all times. And once more, I do not suppose these 5 guys symbolize the huge, overwhelming majority of legislation enforcement. However I do not know if there’s something you are able to do to cease the sort of evil we noticed in that video,” he mentioned.
5 officers, all Black, are charged with Nichols’ homicide after video captured on bodycams and a road surveillance digital camera confirmed them violently confronting Nichols on Jan. 7.
Nichols, 29, was hospitalized and died of his accidents three days later within the metropolis the place he lived together with his mom and stepfather and labored at FedEx.
The Memphis Police Division on Saturday disbanded the SCORPION unit to which the officers belonged, as protests occurred in U.S. cities a day after harrowing video of the assault was launched.
The officers had been charged on Thursday with second-degree homicide, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression in Nichols’ dying and dismissed from the division.
Reporting by Katharine Jackson and Ahmed Aboulenein; Extra reporting by David Lawder, modifying by Ross Colvin and Nick Zieminski
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