Video footage of the incident is difficult to watch, pointing to the officers’ severe lack of training. Officers are seen brutally beating Nichols, who was not armed, at the traffic stop.
They beat him with a baton, sprayed him, and kicked him in the video. However, because Tyre Nichols is black, it has been deemed another racist injustice by many.
Activists quickly called this a social injustice as they flocked to Twitter. According to Fox News, “Activist, non-profit executive, podcast host, and educator, Brittany Packnett Cunningham posted a tweet Friday morning ahead of the police surveillance and body camera footage. ‘What’s clear about some of the reactions to the murder of #TyreNichols is that we’ve failed to understand race fully and its construction as a *systemic tool.* The entire system of policing sees the Black body as a problem. No matter who pulls the trigger,’ Cunningham wrote.”Supporters of this belief quickly jumped on the post in agreement.
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However, this isn’t the first time this has been seen. When a man massacred ten Asian people, it was quickly declared a hate crime. However, police later revealed a photo of an Asian man, showing that it was an Asian on Asian crime. As soon as someone that is not white is killed, it is a hate crime until proven otherwise.
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In this instance, the police did use excessive force. They used far beyond what was necessary, and I don’t think anyone can watch this video and argue about that. There was a shot of two officers holding him down while another got the perfect stance to kick him in his face. That’s not okay. However, at the same time, they weren’t yelling racial slurs. There was nothing to say this was a race crime.
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Instead, it says that these men need to be taken to trial, and there are ongoing investigations to do just that. The NY Post says, “The officers are not just facing second-degree murder charges but a slew of charges from aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping to official oppression. The videotape amply supports the aggravated assault and official oppression charges. The defense will likely focus on controlling the damage rather than leave the case unscathed.”
It’s not possible to leave this unscathed. Thankfully, the officers were wearing body cameras to show their crimes, lack of control, and what went wrong, so future officers could do better.
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