Tire Nichols dies in January 2023 after a brutal police stop. The case is heating up tempers in the USA. Now the verdict is clear.
Memphis – In the USA Another case of police violence is causing a stir. A few weeks before US election Three former police officers were convicted in a federal trial in the US state of Tennessee in January 2023 Tire Nichols beaten and fatally injured had.
The jury’s verdict in Memphis was mixed, as US media reported from the courtroom. The three ex-officers were all found guilty of influencing witnesses. However, the jury acquitted the former police officers on several other charges – including the most serious charge: violation of civil rights resulting in death.
Nichols dies due to brutal police violence
On January 7, 2023, Tire Nichols was involved in a traffic stop in Memphis that ended in a brutal attack. A total of five police officers, including the three defendants, beat the 29-year-old. Three days later, Nichols died in the hospital. Videos of the incident were released weeks later, sparking outrage and horror. The five police officers were fired and charged. Like the victim, the accused officers are African American.
Two of the former officers have already pleaded guilty, but ex-police officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith decided against trial in US federal court. During the trial, the jury watched the video several times, which shows the police brutally beating Nichols, hitting him with a baton and repeatedly kicking him as the 29-year-old desperately screams for his mother.
Ex-police officer faces further trial in Nichols case
The jury deliberated on the verdict for more than five hours. Haley was found guilty of a less serious count of violating civil rights resulting in bodily harm. The conviction of the ex-police officers is just the beginning. They still face a federal trial in Tennessee on charges including second-degree murder. In Tennessee, this is an intermediate level between manslaughter and murder.
The sentence for the current convictions is scheduled to be announced in January. The ex-police officers face prison sentences of up to 20 years for influencing witnesses, and Haley also faces up to ten years in prison for violating Nichols’ civil rights.
The Nichols case commemorates the violent death of George Floyd
Prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert told the station ABC According to her closing statement, the accused police officers laughed and bragged about hitting Nichols. They didn’t call paramedics to the scene because they wanted to get away with their crime and protect themselves. The defendants’ lawyers argued loudly ABC however, that their clients had not violated Memphis police policies.
The Nichols case is reminiscent of that violent death of George Floyd in 2020, which sparked nationwide protests against racism and police violence. In May 2020, Floyd had his knee pressed into his neck for minutes by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and died as a result. The case sparked a nationwide wave of protests against racism and police violence under the slogan “Black Lives Matter“ triggered. (cs/dpa/AFP)
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