The video-footage release of Memphis police brutally and fatally beating Tyre Nichols was met with horror and disgust Friday, with President Joe Biden saying he was “outraged and deeply pained.”
“Like so many, I was outraged and deeply pained to see the horrific video of the beating that resulted in Tyre Nichols’ death. It is yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that Black and brown Americans experience every single day,” Biden said in a statement.
“We must do everything in our power to ensure our criminal justice system lives up to the promise of fair and impartial justice, equal treatment, and dignity for all,” the president added. “Real and lasting change will only come if we take action to prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again.”
Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., also condemned the footage.
“I am deeply disturbed by the video released by Memphis Police today,” King tweeted. “We all witnessed a horrific yet perversely familiar act committed by officers of the law. Everyone involved must be arrested & charged with the murder of Tyre Nichols. His family and our nation deserve justice.”
Sports journalist Jemele Hill wrote, “Watching @JoyAnnReid’s show and seeing this video of #TyreNichols is heartbreaking. That his mother has to know this is what happened to her son …. i just cannot imagine.”
“The video of Tyre Nichols is brutal,” tweeted Malynda Hale, host of the We Need To Talk Podcast and creator of The Black Voices Heard Project. “NOTHING requires that level of force. Cop culture is disgusting. And the fact that they thought any of this was okay is a reflection of the system they signed on to be a part of. I’m disgusted. He lost his life over a traffic stop. My God.”
To help avoid violent clashes or riots in the aftermath of the damning footage, the Memphis police chose to release the video on Friday night at 6 p.m. CT, after most people had left work for the day, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland stated.
“That was a law enforcement preference on trying to get people home from school and home from work, and do it after rush hour when people were safely at home, because we’ve been getting calls from school leaders and business leaders saying, ‘When you release it… we’re worried about our students or workers,’” Strickland told the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Some members of Nichols’ family were given the chance to view the footage in a private setting earlier this week, the Commercial Appeal reported.
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