Fatal beating fuels calls for wide-ranging reforms

Legal experts and civil rights advocates have said harrowing video footage showing a group of Memphis police officers delivering blow after blow to Tyre Nichols underscores the need for broad reforms of policing in the US.

Experts said body-worn and surveillance footage was integral in revealing what unfolded – but are not a panacea.

“At the end of the day, that final video shows someone being beaten and abused like he’s in a pinball game. It’s like the ball is just being knocked from one end to the other,” said Randolph McLaughlin, professor at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law and co-chair of the Newman Ferrara civil rights practice.

“What’s most shocking about it all is the brutality and then at the end, the complete dehumanisation of this man,” McLaughlin said. “It’s as if they just went and played a baseball game and they talked about what happened afterward. There’s absolutely no excuse for this.”

Nichols, 29, was beaten by police after a traffic stop on 7 January and died three days later.

McLaughlin said that in many police shooting cases, officers will make the

‘This man wasn’t a criminal. He was just trying to get home to his mother’

Randolph McLaughlin Law professor

argument that it “is a rapidly evolving situation, a split-second decision had to be made, it was my life or his”, but the Memphis officers could not make any such claim. “That man was defenceless. Defenceless.”

The actions of the officers, McLaughlin said, underscored the need for a far broader approach to reform. “This man wasn’t a criminal. He was just trying to get home to his mother. That’s all he was trying to do. If he can’t do that, none of us are safe,” McLaughlin said. “It shows we need a national standard.

“The police chief in Memphis has taken a very aggressive stance. There’s no question that she’s taking this seriously. The problem is, what’s happening in Mississippi, what’s happening in New York City, every city, every state.”

McLaughlin added: “These are not crimes being committed in isolation. Black and brown men, and poor people, are being treated in this fashion.”

The video footage shows officers delivering blows against Nichols as he languishes on the pavement, crying out for his mother. He is punched, kicked and struck with a baton.

Five officers involved in the incident, who are Black, were fired last week. They have been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression in the death of Nichols.

New York City’s Legal Aid Society said in a statement the footage “underscores the epidemic of police violence that continues to plague communities of colour nationwide”.

“This is indeed a systemic crisis, overwhelmingly impacting Black men, and each of these tragedies deepens the wounds of racial trauma that all Black people are forced to shoulder,” it said. “We must continue to question the police’s role in society, as these incidents frequently recur, and many more happen all the time without being captured on bodyworn cameras.”

Sanford Rubenstein, a veteran New York City civil rights attorney, said the video showed “pictures of the truth”, which will be used to prosecute the officers.

“You don’t have one bad apple – you have five officers engage in a horrific beatdown, which resulted in death,” Rubenstein said.