By: Emilie St. John
Members of the law enforcement community have weighed in on the egregious beating of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols at the hands of officers during a Jan. 7 traffic stop that was caught on body cameras worn by officers.
Five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — were fired Jan. 20 after an administrative investigation found they had violated department policy about the use of force.
Memphis police have also placed two additional officers on leave with the other five on January 8 – and those two officers still are subjects of an internal investigation.
One of the two officers, Preston Hemphill, who is White, has been on administrative leave since the beginning of the investigation. It is unclear if he is being paid. The department has not identified who the other officer is.
The Memphis Police Department released bodycam footage Jan. 27 which showed five officers pummeling Nichols for “running” from them after attempting to pull him over for unknown reasons. The initial investigation indicates the officers weren’t forthright in their reasons for pulling him over.
Locally, law enforcement agencies were swift to denounce the officer’s actions after viewing the bodycam footage while refraining from such verbiage when their own officers are accused of causing the deaths during some of their encounters with citizens during traffic stops.
The grotesque actions I watched in the video were incredibly disturbing, cruel and inhumane,” Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said. “To witness former Memphis police officers engaged in such unjustified and excessive force at the expense of Tyre Nichols’ life angers me as a police officer, as an American.”
“This behavior goes against every principle of the law enforcement
profession and is in direct contradiction to the dedication and sacrifice of
the vast majority of our members who strive to protect and serve. The violation of trust tarnishes our badge and has a caustic effect on the public’s trust.”
Moore has not been this vocal when his officers killed three men in the first three days of January.
Oscar Leon Sanchez, 35, and Takar Smith, 45 were both shot to death while their families expressed they were experiencing mental health crises, and Keenan Anderson, 31, was tased six times, over a period of less than a minute, and later died in a local hospital.
During an interview with a local news station, Moore defended the actions of his officers.
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva also weighed in on the footage which he said “appeared excessive”, but cautioned about painting the entire profession with a broad brush.
“I’ve seen the body cam footage, and the pole cam gives a much better perspective. The use of force at face value appears excessive and without lawful purpose. The officers appear to have the means to restrain him and handcuff him, yet they extend the violent encounter without making a discernible effort to de-escalate it,” said Villanueva. “There appears to be some context missing from the initial contact, as the officers appear to be too amped up from a mere traffic violation, at the onset of the incident that led to the tragic death of Tyre Nichols.”
“There are too many unanswered questions, such as the conspicuous absence of supervisory personnel, the lack of communications during the foot pursuit, the apparent absence of a foot pursuit policy, post-pursuit discipline, and any discernible effort to care for Tyre once he was handcuffed.”
While Villanueva was in office he pushed for and implemented a bodycam policy which ultimately outfitted most of the deputies with the devices.
The union representing Sheriff’s deputies, also found the video “shocking and disturbing”.
“The acts committed have no explanation and illustrate disregard for human life,” said the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff’s said in a statement. “Those of us in law enforcement take an oath to uphold the law, but men and women in uniform across this country also go about this daily task while respecting the public. As one of the largest law enforcement unions, ALADS and its members remain committed to working together to continue to build on the improvements we have made in the last two years. Unfortunately, this tragic incident forces all of us to pause and reflect.”
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Nichols’ family and also represented George Floyd’s family after Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020, has hailed Memphis officials for acting swiftly to fire the officers involved and charge them with murder. But he compared the video of Nichols’ beating to the infamous 1991 beating of Rodney King by LAPD officers.
“Regrettably, it reminded us of (the) Rodney King video,” Crump said. “Unlike Rodney King, Tyre didn’t survive.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement saying her heart “aches for Tyre’s family and all who loved him.”
“Our country has a problem that we cannot run away from — we must confront it,” Bass said. “All communities deserve police that will always protect them. It is commendable that the Police Chief and officials in Memphis fired, arrested, and filed murder charges against these officers. True justice, however, is not a guilty verdict. True justice would be Tyre being alive today. As the people of Los Angeles process and react to this horrific killing, we must move with purpose and peace.”
Bass’ comments came after she gave her full support to LAPD Michael Moore being reappointed to another five-year term on Jan. 31.
“I have drawn on my long history of working to improve public safety and LAPD, which predates my founding of the Community Coalition in 1990. This work continued when I represented Los Angeles in the State Assembly and in Congress, and I consulted with LAPD union and Chief Moore in authoring the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. For decades, I’ve heard directly from neighbors, community members, and the people of Los Angeles about their views on public safety, and since taking office, I have had detailed discussions with Chief Moore and stakeholders.”
She fully supported Moore continuing as police chief with the understanding that he needs to “reduce crime, increase community policing, expand alternative response measures, increase availability of Mental Evaluation Units (MEU), and recruit more ‘reform minded’ officers”.
Rodney King’s daughter, Lora Dene King issued a statement decrying the police assault of Nichols as “extremely sickening.”
“We should not have to witness such things in this world over and over with a different name behind the hashtags,” she said. “Watching these types of videos has become very disturbing. It triggers past beatings often in comparison to my father’s brutal 1991 beating with the LAPD. This is something I will never understand. I hope his family find strength the most; in the days to come.”
The Los Angeles Police Protective League issued a joint statement Friday night with the San Francisco Police Officers Association, San Jose Police Officers’ Association, and the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers blasting the actions of officers in the video.
“The killing of Tyre Nichols at the hands of the five cowardly former Memphis police officers is repugnant and the complete antithesis of how honorable law enforcement professionals conduct themselves every day,” the statement read. “These accused individuals were fired, charged with murder and other crimes, arrested, fingerprinted, photographed and jailed, just like any other suspected criminal. Their brutalization of Mr. Nichols was horrific and for his family to have to view the video of Tyre suffering through those evil acts is unfathomable. We pray that they find the strength to deal with this unmitigated loss.”
William Briggs, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission, called the beating of Nichols “savage and unconscionable.”
“The behavior of these officers must be condemned,” Briggs said. “Not just by members of the law enforcement community, but by all Americans. They will answer for their actions; their disregard for human life; their excessive use of force; their failure to intervene and render aide; their violation of the public’s trust.”
Despite the actions of Los Angeles Police Officers and the protests following the release of video footage of Keenan Anderson being severely tased, he voted in support of reappointing Moore to an additional five-year term.
Protestors took to the streets on Jan. 29 where they staged a demonstration in the intersection where Anderson was tased and marched to the home of a member of the Los Angeles City Council demanding officers be removed from traffic stops.
Newly elected City Controller Kenneth Mejia also joined in demonstrations by observing the protests to ensure “accountability and transparency” for taxpayers on how their dollars are being spent on law enforcement and how they were handling peaceful protests guaranteed under the Constitution.
“This past weekend, our team monitored LAPD responses to public demonstrations related to police killings in our city & across the country,” wrote Mejia on his social media account. “Our Controller team is always working to deliver transparency & accountability. One way we do that is with on-the-ground monitoring.”
A newly formed group, Police Against Racism, is a group of sworn and retired police officers and community members who leverage their different backgrounds and experiences with the goal of dismantling the systemic racism that exists within policing.
“We’re collectively witnessing the same type of behavior we witnessed in 2020 with the murder of George Floyd. Law Enforcement took oaths, we pledged and promised that we would be better, that we would serve our communities with love, respect, and empathy. but as you see we have not held up our end of this promise. We have to fight to influence change in the culture and behavior of the law enforcement profession. These officers, just like those we have seen in countless instances didn’t develop this behavior during that specific incident,” said the group in a statement.
“This has been culture cultivated over time. We need to all stop turning a blind eye to the systemic forces that continue to give rise to these acts of violence. We, the members of PAR, stand together with the communities who’ve been affected by the law enforcement’s unchecked culture and those agencies who act in negligence by keeping bad officers.”
Law enforcement came together cohesively and swiftly to denounce actions that have taken place thousands of miles away from where the same issues continue to permeate in our local communities.
Their statements aren’t as decisive and definitive when it’s one of their own and that needs to be addressed just as swiftly too.
