Tyre Nichols killing by Memphis police (1 Viewer)

[Lapaz]

I wanted to discuss the odd statistical anomaly about the races of the 5 cops that killed Tryre Nichols. I looked up the demographics of the Memphis police department, and 67% are white, 9% hispanic, and only 13% are black. That's only 89%, so I guess the rest are either a smaller racial group such as asians, or they didn't declare a race, in which case they are probably of mixed race. The 5 cops that were charged were all clearly black, not mixed race. I'm not a statistical expert, but I think the odds that all of the cops would be clearly black are 0.13^5, which is a 0.0037% chance of all cops being black, without any other intervening factors. It got me wondering about whether this extremely unlikely statistical anomaly could've happened without some type of internal Memphis policy. There could be other explanations, but I have a suspicion that it has to do with an internal decision within the Memphis police department to match the cop's race to the the suspect's race in order to try to avoid some of the racial bias claims that have been levied on other police departments. I haven't heard this anywhere, but I'm expecting this angle to be explored. If the Memphis police department is using such a policy, I blame it on our society making everything so racial that it is affecting how the police department decides to assign cops to avoid bad perceptions.

I'm also wondering if there will be claims that the cops were charged more quickly because they were black, whereas if the cops had been white, some may claim that they would not have been charged as quickly. Just after I wrote this, I heard a couple of blacks making this claim on the Dan Abrams Show. They were saying that they had never seen such quick charges, so it must be because they were black. I'm looking forward to seeing the videos, because maybe they were so egregious that any delays would've been an injustice. If so, then the Memphis police department deserves praise for acting quickly, rather than spinning it as a negative.

I'm also wondering how this incident would've been covered if the victim had been white, and all black cops. Maybe such an extremely unlikely scenario would've still been covered, but I have my doubts, because I've looked up the statistics, and more whites are killed by police than blacks, yet I don't remember the last white incident that was in the media. I know the demographics argument, but I think the problem is more of a media creation. I just heard a black lady on the Abrams show about how much more she has to be worried about her kid than a white lady. We may not even be hearing about this if the victim was white, and that over-coverage by the media is what creates the fear of cops in black mothers. Dan Abrams just told his callers that it is a media creation about black men being killed more often, but then he also went on to say that more blacks have unjustified interactions, which I think is also more of a media creation. I think the interactions are probably mostly based on suspicious actions, rather than race. Media over-coverage is the same reason that many people seem to believe that murder rates are much worse today than decades ago, despite the data indicating that murder rates have drastically declined.

 

[Big_L]

Frankly I’ve stopped listening to the coverage of his arrest. I stand by my previous stance that Nichols illegally resisted arrest. The only way to exonerate Nichols is if there is proof that he knew that they meant to hurt him. Not just that he believed it. Even if the stop was illegal, he was not justified to fight the arrest. He would only be justified if he knew they were going to hurt him badly or were actually trying to hurt him badly. I’ve never said that the cops in the 2nd encounter were innocent. The cops in the first encounter may also be guilty of an illegal stop or worse. That remains to be seen.

I know Nichols was probably murdered, but almost everyone has turned him into a martyr and/or a poster-child for police brutality because he was murdered. He would be a good one if he had behaved well when they tried to arrest him, but he didn’t, so I choose to highlight that Nichols would also be a criminal if he had lived. I can’t stand the one-sided nature of the coverage of these police encounters, because they are almost always precipitated by resisting arrest, and most people tend to ignore or justify that resistance.

Can you admit that Nichols was illegally resisting arrest?

When was he placed under arrest?

 

[Optimus Prime]

Frankly I’ve stopped listening to the coverage of his arrest. I stand by my previous stance that Nichols illegally resisted arrest. The only way to exonerate Nichols is if there is proof that he knew that they meant to hurt him. Not just that he believed it. Even if the stop was illegal, he was not justified to fight the arrest. He would only be justified if he knew they were going to hurt him badly or were actually trying to hurt him badly. I’ve never said that the cops in the 2nd encounter were innocent. The cops in the first encounter may also be guilty of an illegal stop or worse. That remains to be seen.

I know Nichols was probably murdered, but almost everyone has turned him into a martyr and/or a poster-child for police brutality because he was murdered. He would be a good one if he had behaved well when they tried to arrest him, but he didn’t, so I choose to highlight that Nichols would also be a criminal if he had lived. I can’t stand the one-sided nature of the coverage of these police encounters, because they are almost always precipitated by resisting arrest, and most people tend to ignore or justify that resistance.

Can you admit that Nichols was illegally resisting arrest?

Q: was there any proof they meant to hurt him?

A: Do you mean other than his dead body?

You also keep saying cops in the first encounter vs cops in the second encounter as if they aren’t the same cops

 

[MT15]

This reminded me of a case in a city near me. A young man who went to school with my daughter was jumped by about four guys, dragged into an alley and beaten. He wasn’t killed, at least. He claimed it was a local city policeman known to him, because this policeman had left a threatening message on his phone previously. There wasn’t any proof, though, and the young man had suffered fairly serious head injuries and couldn’t be sure who had jumped him. It was supposedly because the policeman suspected him of hitting on his wife, who he knew because he went to high school with her. Strangely, this particular alley was one area of the downtown where there were no cameras.

In the end, nobody was charged. The policeman was recommended to be terminated, because he admitted to leaving the threatening voicemail, but the merit board refused to let him go. He did end up leaving the department shortly thereafter. Basically because the chief wanted him gone, I suspect. I imagine he went to another department somewhere.

Anyway, I don’t think this is as rare a situation as one might think.

 

[Saintamaniac]

I stand by my previous stance that Nichols illegally resisted arrest.

Of course you do. Anything short of that would show your stance to be ill-placed. He wasn't arrested nor was he ever placed under arrest. I don't know how familiar you are with your rights as a citizen but until you are placed under arrest or detained with RAS in this country, you are free to leave.

The only way to exonerate Nichols is if there is proof that he knew that they meant to hurt him. Not just that he believed it.

As someone has already pointed out, his dead body is proof that they meant to hurt him. Interesting that you would say that about Nichols. I wonder if you have the same take on cops who claim they feared for their lives after the shoot unarmed citizens. Do you think they need proof to exonerate them as well?

Even if the stop was illegal, he was not justified to fight the arrest.

The stop was illegal and he was being kidnapped.

I know Nichols was probably murdered,

No, Nichols was DEFINITELY murdered. I don't think I need to post the definition of murder for you.

but almost everyone has turned him into a martyr and/or a poster-child for police brutality because he was murdered.

I'm going to call bullshirt here. No one here is turning him into a martyr. The murderers with badges did that when they murdered him.

He wasn't arrested. How can you resist something that never happened ?

When was he placed under arrest?

These two questions will go unanswered by @Lapaz because they absolutely destroy his crusade to exonerate the murderers and blame the victim. The more information that comes out the more @Lapaz will look ridiculous for his stance on justifying Nichols murder. Nichols has 0 culpability in his own murder. He was unlawfully forced from his vehicle and beaten to death.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Q: was there any proof they meant to hurt him?

A: Do you mean other than his dead body?

You also keep saying cops in the first encounter vs cops in the second encounter as if they aren’t the same cops

Did you just 'A Few Good Men' him?

 

[Optimus Prime]

Did you just 'A Few Good Men' him?

Sure did

That’s exactly what came to mind

 

[Optimus Prime]

Posted on EE also
=============
It was a stunning revelation: One of the officers involved in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols took a cellphone photo of the bloodied and handcuffed man and shared it with five other people.

The disclosure was part of the Memphis Police Department’s request to the state that the five former officers charged with murder in Nichols’ death be decertified. But the officer’s statement about sharing the photo will likely never be seen by a jury.

So-called “Garrity statements” — or disclosures made by police officers during internal investigations under the threat of termination if they stay silent — have been viewed by courts as compelled and therefore cannot be used in criminal court.

Six officers already have been fired and one more has been relieved of duty after Nichols was pulled over for an alleged traffic violation and beaten by police. Six others could receive administrative discipline, officials disclosed, without providing any details. Prosecutors say the Jan. 7 arrest, which was captured on police video cameras, led to Nichols’ death three days later.

Here’s a look at “Garrity statements” and other aspects of internal police investigations into misconduct the public rarely sees:
WHAT IS A GARRITY STATEMENT?

When a police officer is accused of misconduct, internal police investigators who are trying to figure out what happened often take statements from the accused officers or witnesses. Officers — like everyone — have a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and can’t be forced to fess up to potential misconduct just to have those statements later used against them in a criminal case.


“Police officers do not shed their Constitutional rights when they pin on a badge,” said Phil Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University who tracks charges and convictions of police officers, and also a former police officer.

If an officer is told they have to answer questions as part of an internal affairs investigation or they could lose their job, courts have viewed those statements as protected or inadmissible in criminal proceedings because the officers were forced to talk.

They are called “Garrity statements” because of a 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision in a case titled Garrity v. New Jersey that involved police officerswho were brought in for questioning over allegations of traffic ticket fixing. The officers were warned that if they didn’t answer questions they would lose their job. Some of their answers were later used against them in court and they were convicted. The Supreme Court said such statements are involuntary, so they can’t be used in criminal proceedings.


That doesn’t mean that an officer who gives a compelled statement to internal affairs investigators cannot be criminally prosecuted. While those statements would not be part of the criminal case, prosecutors would be able to present other evidence, such as the videos that show the brutal beating. The cellphone photos may also still be seen by jurors if prosecutors can get the information through other means, Stinson said.


“Somebody who received the photo may come forward, or prosecutors may get this information through other sources independent of this material,” Stinson said. “But I think any good defense attorney would raise a Garrity challenge.”

Officials have to be careful to keep the internal affairs and criminal investigations totally separate because it can derail the criminal case if the prosecution is found to have inappropriately used statements protected under Garrity.

“The violation of the Garrity protections can come at a very high cost to a subsequent prosecution,” said Bill Johnson, executive director and general counsel of the National Association of Police Organizations…….

Jury may not hear cops' admissions in Tyre Nichols’ beating

It was a stunning revelation: One of the officers involved in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols took a cellphone photo of the bloodied and handcuffed man and shared it with five other people.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

How elite police units, like the Memphis Scorpion squad that killed Tyre Nichols, commit the crimes they're created to stop

They went by different names.

Red Dog. CRASH. The Gun Trace Task Force. Street Crime Unit. The Special Operations Section. The "Death Squad." The Place-Based Investigations Unit.

Scorpion.

But the specialized "street crime" squads, created in police departments around the country in response to rising rates of homicide and drug- and gun-related crimes, share a pattern of abuse.

The outgrowth of decades of popular policing theories that advocate concentrating attention on high-crime areas, "street crime" squads in practice tend to focus on drugs, guns, or gangs – typically in lower-income neighborhoods with fewer white residents.

Their aggressive tactics are so notorious – and so similar – that in many cities they're known as "jump-out boys" for the way officers spill out of their cars to accost people during stops. In Chicago, such units have contributed to residents seeing the police as "an occupying force" that make some neighborhoods feel like "an open-air prison," the Department of Justice found in 2017.

"They patrol our streets like they are the dog catchers and we are the dogs," one Chicago resident told investigators.

The proliferation of these "street crime" squads is under renewed scrutiny after five members of Memphis's Scorpion unit were charged earlier this year with beating 29-year-old Tyre Nichols to death in what should have been a routine traffic stop.

"What we've seen this month in Memphis and for many years in many places, is that the behavior of these units can morph into 'wolf pack' misconduct," Ben Crump, an attorney for Nichols' family, which is suing the city, wrote in an open letter to the city of Memphis last month. "The 'why' of Tyre Nichols's death is found in this policing culture itself."

Insider's review of nearly two dozen units established to target neighborhoods police viewed as high-crime zones found repeated complaints of abuse, discrimination, criminal violence, and corruption. Oftentimes, these units have been disbanded after egregious incidents, including the use of deadly force, only to be reconstituted months or years later under a different name when they become politically popular again.

Specialized units have been connected to some of the most high-profile and flagrant cases of police brutality of the last 30 years, including the killings of Breonna Taylor, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, and Eric Garner.

"There are umpteen examples of this turning into a nightmare. These elite units are going off the rails," said Peter Kraska, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University who has written extensively about police militarization.

"It happens so often that you have to conclude this is a flawed model.".............

When elite cops go rogue: So-called "elite" anti-crime units like the one that killed Tyre Nichols have a nationwide legacy of killings, kidnappings, abuse, and corruption. So why do cities keep using them?

 

[Optimus Prime]

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) — The officer who pulled Tyre Nichols from his car before police fatally beat him never explained why he was being stopped, newly released documents show, and emerging reports from Memphis residents suggest that was common.

The Memphis Police Department blasted Demetrius Haley and four other officers as “blatantly unprofessional” and asked that they be stripped of the ability to work as police for their role in the Jan. 7 beating, according to documents released Tuesday by the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission.

They also include revelations that Haley took photographs of Nichols as he lay propped against a police car, then sent the photos to other officers and a female acquaintance.

Nichols died three days later — the latest police killing to prompt nationwide protests and an intense public conversation about how police treat Black residents.


Yet what led to it all remains a mystery.

The five officers — Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Emmitt Martin III — have been fired and charged with second-degree murder.

The new documents offer the most detailed account to date of those officers’ actions. Their attorneys have not commented to The Associated Press about the documents……

Tyre Nichols documents: Officer never explained stop to him

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) — The officer who pulled Tyre Nichols from his car before police fatally beat him never explained why he was being stopped, newly released documents show, and emerging reports from Memphis residents suggest that was common.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The family of Tyre Nichols, who died after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers, sued the officers and the city of Memphis on Wednesday, blaming them for his death and accusing officials of allowing a special unit’s aggressive tactics to go unchecked despite warning signs.

The lawsuit accuses Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis of starting a crime-suppression unit called Scorpion to target repeat violent offenders in high-crime areas. The lawsuit claims the Scorpion unit used “extreme intimidation, humiliation, and violence” and “disproportionately focused on and targeted young Black men,” adding that this is why Nichols was targeted. It says that the department permitted this aggressive approach to develop and ignored complaints by other residents targeted by the unit before Nichols’ death.

The suit, filed by lawyers for Tyre Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, seeks a jury trial and financial damages. The five officers charged with beating Nichols were members of the unit, police have said. The unit was disbanded after the Nichols beating………

Tyre Nichols’ family sues Memphis police over beating, death

The family of Tyre Nichols, who died after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers, sued the officers and the city of Memphis, blaming them for his death and accusing officials of allowing a special unit’s aggressive tactics to go unchecked despite warning signs. Lawyers for Tyre...

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

The Justice Department will investigate whether the city of Memphis and its police department systematically violated civil rights, officials announced on Thursday.

Memphis police faced widespread condemnation and nationwide protests earlier this year following the homicide of Tyre Nichols, an unarmed 29-year-old Black man who was viciously beaten by a large group of officers during a traffic stop in January and died three days later.

“The tragic death of Tyre Nichols created enormous pain in the Memphis community and across the country,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

“The Justice Department is launching this investigation to examine serious allegations that the City of Memphis and the Memphis Police Department engage in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conduct and discriminatory policing based on race, including a dangerously aggressive approach to traffic enforcement,” he added……..

DoJ announces investigation of Memphis police department after Tyre Nichols death

Unarmed 29-year-old Black man died of blunt force trauma to the head after Memphis police stop in January

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Optimus Prime]

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Five former Memphis police officers were charged Tuesday with federal civil rights violations in the beating death of Tyre Nichols as they continue to fight second-degree murder charges in state courts arising from the killing.

Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith were indicted in U.S. District Court in Memphis. The four-count indictment charges each of them with deprivation of rights under the color of law through excessive force and failure to intervene, and through deliberate indifference; conspiracy to witness tampering, and obstruction of justice through witness tampering.…….

5 former officers charged with federal civil rights violations in Tyre Nichols beating death

Five former Memphis police officers have been charged with federal civil rights violations in the beating death of Tyre Nichols.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A former Memphis police officer changed his plea to guilty Thursday in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, becoming the first of five officers charged to reverse course.

Desmond Mills Jr. entered his plea during a hearing at the Memphis federal courthouse as part of a larger agreement to settle charges in state court as well. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the four other officers would follow suit. Their attorneys declined to comment on Mills’ guilty plea.

Mills pleaded guilty to federal charges of excessive force and obstruction of justice and agreed to plead guilty to related state charges. Mills also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, who are recommending a 15-year sentence. The final sentencing decision rests with the judge. Sentencing is scheduled for May 22.……

A former Memphis officer pleads guilty to state and federal charges in Tyre Nichols’ death

A former Memphis police officer has changed his plea to guilty in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, becoming the first of five officers charged to reverse course.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — About 21 hours of newly released video and audio are revealing more about what first responders including the five fired police officers charged in the violent beating death of Tyre Nichols did and said the night Nichols was pulled over and mortally injured.

The dozens of recordings were made public Tuesday by Memphis city officials based on a state judge’s order, which came down the same day that former officer Desmond Mills Jr. pleaded guilty in November to federal charges in the case that sparked outrage around the world and intensified calls for police reform. City officials also plan to release additional written documents in two weeks.

Mills also intends to plead guilty in state court and could testify against his four ex-colleagues — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith — who remain charged with civil rights violations in federal court and second-degree murder and other offenses in state court. They have pleaded not guilty.



The recordings released Tuesday add hours of context to the police video released weeks after the traffic stop, which showed the five officers beating Nichols as he yelled for his mother, steps from his house. The new material shows what officers and others did and said before, during and after the beating.

Much of their comments suggest officers and paramedics appeared fixated with the idea that he was high on drugs. Medics administered Naloxone to reverse a potential opioid overdose as Nichols slouched, unresponsive, after officers propped him up against a car. One emergency medical technician even claimed, “He’s not injured. He’s just high.”

Nichols’ autopsy later detected only low levels of alcohol and THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in his system.

As for what prompted the traffic stop, Bean’s bodycam recorded another officer saying that Nichols “drove into oncoming traffic” and “swerved like he’s going to hit my car” after they turned on sirens and ordered him to stop. But the same officer also said Nichols “stopped at the red light and put his turn signal on.”


The officer said they got out to pursue him and that’s apparently when Nichols fled on foot towards his home, to where the beating would occur, less than a block from his front door.

Other officers recorded themselves saying Nichols had tried to grab an officer’s gun, which none of the videos clearly show, and that he resisted arrest, even though Nichols appeared to be complying with their commands.


Later, some officers appeared perplexed that no drugs were in the car Nichols was driving. One suggested he could have thrown something while he was running.…….

Hours of additional video show what officers did and said after fatal beating of Tyre Nichols

The city of Memphis Tennessee has released about 21 more hours of video and audio in the case of five former police officers charged with the violent beating and death of Tyre Nichols.

apnews.com