The state board says that the Memphis Fire Department personnel may have contributed to his death
The Memphis Police Case: Two Years after Tyre Nichols: How Law Enforcement May Have Learned From Its Mistaken Moments
Weeks after Tyre Nichols was brutalized by Memphis police officers, city law enforcement officials are being hailed for their unusually rapid investigation and transparency compared to similar cases in other US cities.
Five former officers were indicted Thursday on charges of second-degree murder and kidnapping. One day later, officials released police body camera and street surveillance footage of the deadly encounter after a January 7 traffic stop.
The response by police after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, shows that they have learned from their mistakes.
“A year ago, two years ago, we wouldn’t have seen some of the things we’re seeing here,” Johnson said of Memphis law enforcement’s handling of Nichols’ death.
In previous cases of police violence, the filing of charges and the release of video was swift, as was the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
The Memphis Police Department reported that the January 7 incident began when Nichols was pulled over for alleged reckless driving.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis told CNN that on hearing that initial account she thought it was “just a strange summary of what occurred on a traffic stop.” She was enraged when she saw the video of what happened.
Still, law enforcement and legal analysts are now pointing to Memphis’ actions as a new example of how to maintain trust in the community after fatal police encounters.
When cops don’t act and an event happens over five minutes, maybe they should be held responsible to a higher standard according to Mark O’Mara, a criminal defense attorney. “So we are in a new era, I think, of looking at police behavior under a different eye towards possible prosecution.”
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/30/us/memphis-police-tyre-nichols-case/index.html
The Memphis Police Commissioners waited until 7 p.m. Friday to denounce the horrific incident of Nichols, an officer and the 2015 Charleston shooter Walter Scott
An ambulance was called to the scene after a person complained of breathing difficulties. He was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said that Nichols died of injuries he received during the use-of-force incident with officers.
The preliminary results of an autopsy commissioned by attorneys for Nichols’ family said he suffered “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” family attorney Benjamin Crump said this week.
Memphis Police identified and fired five officers involved in an altercation due to their violation of multiple department policies.
One of the family attorneys said that the officers in the video hit him “like a human piata”.
“The police department obviously learned something from … other high-profile cases when district attorneys were not transparent, when they did not act quickly,” said Areva Martin, an attorney and legal affairs commentator.
“They did the right thing in this case by convening a grand jury, investigating the case quickly, and then charging these officers, bringing them into custody.”
In a news conference Friday, he said the fast criminal charges compared to other cities that have waited months for brutality cases made a “blueprint” for future cases.
CNN political analyst Bakari Sellers said the swiftness of the charges reminded him of the case involving the April 2015 death of Walter Scott, who was fatally shot in the back after officers pulled him over for a broken brake light in South Carolina.
Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager was arrested days after the shooting and indicted on a murder charge two months later. The former officer’s 2016 state murder trial ended in a mistrial but Slager pleaded guilty to violation of civil rights by acting under the color of law in Scott’s killing. He will be in federal prison for 20 years.
They waited until 7 p.m. Friday to publicly release the agonizing footage of Nichols’ fatal encounter with officers, allowing time for local politicians, activists and Nichols’ family to make pleas for calm in the community.
CNN law enforcement says taking a high tension event on a Friday night is going to increase tension, because people don’t have to work in the morning and have the whole weekend ahead of them.
But, Miller said, the delay allowed authorities to show the public “the wheels of justice are turning and turning relatively quickly.” The additional time also allowed officials to “unite the faith community in Memphis, the voice of the family and the family’s lawyers, and the key community contacts” in calling for calm.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/30/us/memphis-police-tyre-nichols-case/index.html
Memphis, Arkansas, PD Responds to the Footsteps After Tyre Nichols: Instability in the Memphis Police Department
Police departments across the country – including in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Nashville and New York – said they were either monitoring events or already had plans in place in case of protests.
“We’ve watched so many of these cases over the last several years,” Martin said. “And when (law enforcement authorities) come forward and when they’re transparent and they provide information to the community, we typically see a very peaceful response.”
Protesters took to the freeway Friday night to block the bridge that connects the city of Memphis to the state of Arkansas. There were no arrests.
Though paramedics arrived minutes after officers disengaged, Nichols appeared to be left multiple times on the pavement without assistance before an ambulance showed up.
The experts were shocked by the footage. Officials across the country expressed outrage – including President Joe Biden, who said it was “yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day.”
“While the heinous actions of a few casts a cloud of dishonor on the title SCORPION, it is imperative that we, the Memphis Police Department take proactive steps in the healing process of all those impacted. The Memphis Police Department remains committed to serving our community and taking every measure possible to rebuild the trust that has been negatively affected by the death of Mr. Tyre Nichols.”
The Memphis police said on Saturday that they had ended the unit after listening to the family of the man and community leaders who have worked with uninvolved officers.
The footage of the fatal encounter has left many unanswered questions about what the Memphis Police Department did to prevent the tragedy.
“All of this was preventable,” she told CNN Saturday. “You have officers who are young on the job, unsupervised out there doing what they do on a regular basis. This was not anything that they aren’t accustomed to doing.”
Memphis City Council Chairman Martavius Jones told CNN that despite the change in the handling of brutality cases, there is much more that needs to be done.
We need to change the culture. We need to hold people accountable. We have to let the legacy of Mr. Nichols be that there is going to be police reform not only here in Memphis but in this country.”
The inaction of two Memphis Fire Department first responders fired after the deadly police beating of Tyre Nichols may have contributed to his death, according to a state emergency medical services board.
The summary suspension documents for both men said thatRespondent provided no treatment to Tyre Nichols during the 19-minute period. Sandridge was the senior EMT at the scene and Long was his partner.
The board met on February 3 to make a decision on the license suspensions. While the board decides on a longer-term basis what to do about the two men’s licensure status, the summary suspensions will remain in effect.
Sandridge and Long did not conduct a primary examination of Nichols for the first 19 minutes they were on scene, including “obtaining vital signs and conducting a full head-to-toe examination,” according to documents from the February 3 meeting.
According to the document for Sandridge, T.N. did not get high-flow oxygen, did not get an IV and was not put on a cardiac monitor for hospital interpretation.
The men’s documents state each did not engage his partner at the event location for the purpose of taking appropriate action in protecting patient T.N. from other emergency medical services personnel.
Board members were shown a portion of the video released from the January 7 beating showing the arrival of fire personnel on the scene. They were told if Long’s and Sandridge’s actions were grounds for suspension after watching the video.
Thomas Malone, president of the Memphis Fire Fighters Association wrote a letter to the council in which he defended terminated personnel and said their members were not given enough information.
O’ Neal called a former Memphis EMT to testify about Long’s response. Long was the lowest-ranking EMT on the scene and he would have faced assault and battery charges.
Long said that theMPD leaned over the patient in his face saying loudly that they are not going to uncuff him.
He also testified that he believed Nichols didn’t want to be treated, claiming he refused medical care by rolling away when he or Sandridge attempted to take his vitals, but did not verbally say not to treat him.
Long said he did a visual assessment when he arrived on the scene and noted the patient had a “bump on his head, a busted lip and a dried bloody nose” but because Nichols was moving around, “that told me he had a good pulse and blood pressure were good.” He reasoned that the airway was not obstruction because Nichols was speaking.
He said that the fire unit had been dispatched for an assault on an officer. Long said an MPD officer had told him he had been sprayed by his partner but they had a person in custody who might need help.
In December, Long returned to his job with Memphis Fire after being on combat deployment for the US Army. The day of the fatal Tyre Nichols beating was his first day back on duty.
