Tyre Nichols Was Another Unarmed, Non-Threatening Motorist to Die At the Hands of America's Police

Trye Nichols is yet another unarmed Black motorist to be killed by overzealous police officers who abused their authority. Tyre, a 29-year-old Memphis citizen, was a father, son, creative, and skateboarder who became another news headline and hashtag after being stopped by police for reportedly driving recklessly on January 7th. Tyre was repeatedly kicked, beaten, and maced by five Memphis police officers, which resulted in his hospitalization and death on January 10th.

The officers can be heard on video footage cursing and taunting Nichols while beating him as he defenselessly cried for help. All five officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, and Justin Smith, were fired and charged with second-degree murder. The former officers have all bonded out.

Tyre's family has raised over $1 million in GoFundMe donations. And although his family has received an outpour of support, the officers will likely be convicted, and part of America will remain in an uproar; the nation desperately needs to create an immediate and effective action plan to discontinue police brutality. Police terrorism has always been far too common in America. In my opinion, this fact communicates that American police forces welcome emotionally dysfunctional, violent, racist, unethical, sexist, and incompetent individuals to protect American communities. It's far too easy to have a career in law enforcement.

America's failure to properly screen its officers has created the deaths of thousands of Americans. According to The Guardian, US law enforcement killed at least 1,176 people in 2022. In 2021, police killed 1,145 people; 1,152 in 2020; 1,097 in 2019; 1,140 in 2018; and 1,089 in 2017. The earliest data goes back to 2013, when journalists and racial justice advocates began counting these fatal incidents on a national basis. A database run by the Washington Post, which tracks fatal shootings by police, also shows 2022 as a year with record killings.

Stay tuned for later updates on the Tyre Nichols case.

Photo Credit: The Family of Tyre Nichols