The death of a black man after a traffic stop in the US state of Tennessee has legal consequences for the five ex-cops. They were charged with second-degree murder and other felonies Thursday, District Attorney Steve Mulroy said at a news conference. 29-year-old Tire Nichols was pulled over by Memphis police on January 7 for “reckless driving.”
According to a family lawyer, he was beaten by emergency services for several minutes and later died in hospital. An autopsy report revealed that the 29-year-old suffered profuse bleeding from severe beatings.
Video footage of the crime, which has already been shown to the victim’s family, is scheduled to be released on Friday evening (local time). Tennessee Criminal Investigation Chief David Rauch said he was dismayed, shocked and disgusted by what he saw in the video. The act was “absolutely appalling,” said Rauch.
The police had fired the five officers, who were also black, because of the incident on Wednesday. They said they used excessive force, did not intervene and did not provide assistance. Lawyers for the victim’s family denounced the US police’s racist treatment of black people in the country.
Deadly police violence is a regular occurrence in the United States. Black people are disproportionately affected. In the past, such attacks have repeatedly triggered violent protests across the country.
