Disclaimer: This article contains descriptions of police brutality and violence.
On Jan. 7 at around 8:30 p.m. local time in Memphis, Tenn., Tyre Nichols was brutalized by five police officers. In an early statement, the Memphis Police Department said that Nichols had been pulled over for “reckless driving” and that after the stop, Nichols had fled the scene on foot, leading to a “confrontation.” However, Police Chief Cerelyn Davis told CNN that she was unable to substantiate any probable cause for the stop after reviewing footage.
Three days after Nichols’ traffic stop, he succumbed to his injuries and tragically died. According to the New York Times, on Jan. 20 all five officers were fired from the department, and on Jan. 26 they were each charged with the second-degree murder of Nichols. One day after charges were filed against the officers, both body camera and surveillance footage of Nichols’ beating were released by Memphis PD. In the footage, Nichols is seen being kicked, pepper sprayed, and tased within the span of just a few minutes. One officer can be heard on video yelling, “I’m going to baton the f*** out of you,” and proceeding to beat Nichols until he lay on the concrete, barely conscious and bloodied.
In possibly the most heartbreaking portion of the footage, Nichols can be heard crying out for his mother while being pepper sprayed, in what may have been his last words.
Eric Garcia of The Independent said it best on Twitter. His post read, “There is only one reason that a grown man ever cries for their mom when she isn’t there. It’s when they feel there is no other recourse and no other way out.”
I was in utter shock and disbelief after viewing the footage. I kept asking myself this question, “How could anyone, let alone someone who takes an oath to enforce and protect the law, just beat an innocent man so senselessly?” The officers must’ve known they were on camera, yet they seemed so confident that they would simply ‘get away with it’. A brief look into recent history shows why they would feel that way: qualified immunity.
According to The American Bar Association, qualified immunity is “a judicial doctrine created by the Supreme Court that shields state actors from liability for their misconduct, even when they break the law.” Due to this legal immunity, police departments are the ones who are sued by victims’ families, with many civil suits ending in out-of-court settlements. According to the New York Daily News, the New York Police Department had to pay $230 million in settlements in just 2018 alone. The officers themselves are often faced with minimal to no consequences, personally or professionally. Even if officers do get fired, they’re often able to move to a different department, according to the Washington Post.
As far as I’m concerned, the comparatively quick firing and charging of these five officers is the exception, not the rule, when it comes to police brutality cases. I suppose the gut-wrenching footage was too much to overlook this time.
Nichols was a skateboarder, a FedEx worker, a hobbyist photographer, a son, and a father to a four-year-old son. He was just 29 years old. Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, said in a CNN interview, “I’ll never cook for my son again, I’ll never get a hug from my son again. I won’t get anything from my son again, just because some officers decided they wanted to do harm to my son.”
The city of Memphis can pay out every last penny they have in settlements to Nichols’ family, and the officers could be found guilty and given the harshest sentences possible, but it still won’t be enough. Nothing will bring back Nichols.
My only hope is that we’ll completely re-examine our criminal justice system from the top down and work to end this culture of violence and resentment in law enforcement. Too many families have been shattered. Too many lives have been lost. Enough isn’t enough right now, enough was enough decades ago. It is long past time for meaningful, systemic change.
Nathan Hope can be contacted at
nhope@kscequinox.com
