Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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Summary by the New York Times.
Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was beaten by Memphis police officers for roughly three minutes on the evening of Jan. 7, after he was stopped for what the police originally said was reckless driving. The stop escalated into a violent confrontation that ended with Mr. Nichols hospitalized in critical condition. Three days later, he died.
The images, taken from body camera and street camera footage, include the initial traffic stop. Police officers come up to Mr. Nichols’s car yelling with their guns raised, open his car door and pull him out of the vehicle. Mr. Nichols says that he “didn’t do anything.” He drops to the ground, on his side, as officers surround him. He appears to offer no resistance, though he struggles as the officers hold down parts of his body and threaten him. He is pepper sprayed, and an officer fires a Taser at him as he gets up and runs.

The video images show that, eight minutes later, he has been pursued into a suburban neighborhood, where, close to Mr. Nichols’ own home, officers begin a severe beating. They are seen kicking Mr. Nichols in the head when he is on the ground, and pulling him back up as another officer uses an extendable baton to hit him several times. Mr. Nichols does not appear to fight back throughout the beating, which ends with him falling to the ground. More officers arrive on the scene moments later, and Mr. Nichols is not seen receiving medical attention for several minutes.
https://www.nytimes.com/article/tyre-ni ... condition.

Nichols was black, the five MPD officers involved are all black, the Memphis police chief is black. The Shelby County (Memphis) sheriff suspended two deputies pending investigation and the Memphis Fire chief suspended two employees pending investigation. The video is not easy to watch.

Unedited video part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9O6fgNPj1c
Unedited video part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df9NqGeVj1U

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64435109

The Rage Machine is just now rolling out, different response than in the George Floyd tragedy. This couldn't be painted as white "racist" cops who killed a black man on video, these were black cops who killed a black man on video. The five cops were fired and have been charged by a white Shelby County DA.

All the law enforcement involved in Uvalde, TX never learned the lessons of Columbine. And Memphis PD never learned the lessons from Minneapolis.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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Those 5 cops need life in prison. There was no reason for that beating. At. All. The beating was casually carried out. Boots, fists and a baton to the head of a non resisting human being, even being stood up for more. All done in a slow, come back for more fashion. The one dumb fucker who ran up to kick him in the head looks to have pulled a hamstring. May he be gimped for life.

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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Hell no, there is no reason for me to put myself through watching something as horrible as this video. The article describes enough of the horror.
There is something called “scapegoat” that is becoming more and more apparent in all these acts of violence in our country. Projecting all of one’s anger and fear onto a sacrificial lamb, then… The psychology is the same whether mass shooter or crooked cop. The results of prosecution should be the same.

The police did t learn from the Rodney King incident. Because they didn’t suffer any consequences (even as society around them burned). That much is clear now.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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The cycle of police violence and protest in America has so often been told as a story of white officers shooting Black men that three words — “Black lives matter” — stand as global shorthand. But the death of Tyre Nichols has challenged the narrative. The 29-year-old FedEx worker — who died after being pulled over by Memphis police and Tasered, pepper-sprayed and severely beaten — was a Black man. So are the five police officers charged with murdering him.

The Memphis police chief, who has condemned and fired the officers, is a Black woman. And more than half the police force in Memphis, a majority Black city, is Black. Making law enforcement more racially diverse has long been touted as a way to improve community relations and reduce police violence against racial minorities.

Experts who study race, policing and use of force say diversifying can sometimes make a difference, but as as the events in Memphis suggest, that may not always be the case. The research is limited and suggests that the race of officers may matter less than many Americans might think. “The connection between race and policing is very complicated,” said Christy Lopez, a law professor at Georgetown University who led the Justice Department team that investigated Ferguson, Mo., police. “There is no panacea with having Black officers.” Some experts say the problem that leads to police violence like that against Nichols, who died in a hospital three days after the Jan. 7 beating, is less one of officers’ race and more deeply ingrained in policing as a whole.

“Here’s a dirty little secret: Studies indicate that Black officers are just as brutal and at times even more brutal against Black bodies as their white counterparts,” said Duane Loynes Sr., an assistant professor of urban studies and Africana studies at Rhodes College in Memphis whose research focuses on the relationship between Black communities and police.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/st ... olice-race
https://archive.ph/SJKGj#selection-1901.0-1945.313

Instead of constantly chasing diversity, they should focus on hiring, training and supervising their employees. And don't just pass along problem employees, change their behavior or get rid of them. That's sometimes difficult because police unions are strong and state laws and city or county HR rules can make it very difficult.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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The way Tyre Nichols was treated--by Black cops, no less--is a sadly poignant example of Ice Cube's lyrics from NWA's protest song, "F--- Tha Police":
And on the other hand, without a gun, they can't get none
But don't let it be a black and a white one
'Cause they'll slam ya down to the street top
Black police showin' out for the white cop
This problem was also demonstrated during several scenes in the movie, "Boyz N The Hood", where a Black cop acted way out of turn with Black teenager Tre Styles. Also, it showed the police ambivalence when there was a home invasion stoped by his father, Furious Styles, and Furious called out the cops, especially the Black cop, on this.

The only way to stop this kind of thing from happening is to punish the cops the same way you and I would get punished for committing such a horrible act. That's the problem with "qualified immunity" as we have it today; it enables bullies with badges to do this sort of thing and usually not have anything bad happen to them.

Absolute power indeed corrupts absolutely, whether you're Black, White, or anything else.
"SF Liberal With A Gun + Free Software Advocate"
http://www.sanfranciscoliberalwithagun.com/
http://www.liberalsguncorner.com/
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Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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As sporadic crowds continued Saturday to protest the death of Tennessee motorist Tyre Nichols at the hands of law enforcement, the Memphis police chief said she would eliminate the specialized unit implicated in the beating. The so-called Scorpion unit — officers tasked with targeting violent lawbreakers in high-crime areas — has been inactive since Nichols’ beating and arrest Jan. 7. The five officers fired and charged with second-degree murder in his death belonged to that unit. Cerelyn “CJ” Davis, the police chief, initially told reporters that she wanted to keep the unit intact and would not scuttle it because a few officers had committed “some egregious act.”

She reversed her decision Saturday, according to a department news release, after meeting with members of the unit and “listening intently to the family of Tyre Nichols, community leaders, and the uninvolved officers who have done quality work in their assignments.” The remaining officers of the Scorpion unit — which stands for Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods — “agree unreservedly with this next step,” the release said. “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 for all impacted.”
https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... re-nichols



The Scorpion unit is a reminder of another city that created a specialized police unit. The City of Baltimore created the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) in 2007 that targeted guns and violent criminals, instead it became a unit of criminals.
https://www.theroot.com/a-gang-of-rogue ... 1849506955
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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I doubt the value of immediately releasing video from the cops. Kind of like throwing gasoline on a fire, at this point. The radicals jump on it, demand "justice' but want and get revenge and mob violence. This isn't a TV series and justice usually takes some time and deliberation. Usually some sort of investigation is involved.
Based on what I have heard so far, the cops are guilty. Based on newspaper and TV reports. Jury pool is now compromised and the way is open for mob violence. The same thing happened in Minneapolis, and we are still feeling the effects of the violence. Cop force has been reduced by about a third from recommended levels and surprise, violence is an everyday occurrence now to the point where I just avoid the metro area . Apparently, so do potential candidates for police jobs.
The newspapers and TV stations seem to revel in the violence, especially if they can work in the word "gun".

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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I refuse to subject myself to the video--I'm outraged enough by the repeated incidents of Law Enforcement Officers deciding that they are on-site summary torturers and executioners with few ever, EVER charged. I think I can count on my 10 fingers the numbers of them ACTUALLY convicted. Remember the cop in Kinosha, WI who shot unarmed Jacob Blake in the back 7 times with his hand on Blake's shoulder? He was EXONERATED! (just like Kyle Rittenhouse--in Kinosha). Yet the cop was SO incompetent (to Blake's benefit), that Blake survived.

Or the murder of Michael Reinoehl in Olympia, WA. US Marshalls CLAIMED he had a gun, when spectators said he had his cell phone. But since Michael Reinoehl was an antifa fighter who killed a fascist Aaron Danielson in Portland, they were going to kill him no matter what--TFG said at the time they had no intention of arresting him, and, despite his 40,000 lies as President that is one time I believe him.

For every convicted cop there are thousands just as bad who pay NO penalty under the horrible precedent of "Qualified Immunity". Time to end that!
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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In my 70+ years I have noticed that many Blacks are just as prejudice as whites and it isn't the color of the skin but the economics and power authority. Just as some white people look down on other whites as "Poor White Trash" , I have heard Blacks say the same about other Black people including using the N Word.

I think watching black Police Officers in action, some want to try and prove they are as macho as the white officers and are going to extremes to fit in that Law Enforcement culture. The LE culture has become more militarized over the years with the culture of LEOs as an occupation force. Many years ago there was a LE Training Course that explicitly taught that the Law Enforcement was at war against anybody that didn't support them to prevent crime.

Until just recently to become a police officer in Texas required less required hours of Law Enforcement education than a Barber's requirement to be Certified or Licensed in the state

I agree with YT that "Qualified Immunity" should be eliminated, and add in the Police Bill of Rights that gives the Police special treatment when they are caught screwing up.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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Jim Jordan slammed for 'particularly offensive' remarks about Tyre Nichols' beating death

During an appearance on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) expressed dismay at the beating death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols at the hands of five Memphis police officers — and then dismissed the idea that new laws need to be implemented to stop police abuse.

Speaking with host Chuck Todd, the Ohio Republican stated, "I don't know that there's any law that can stop that evil that we saw," before later adding, "But no amount of training's going to change what we saw in that video."

That led GOP campaign consultant Susan Del Percio to pounce on the new House Judiciary Committee chairman for blowing off the idea that changes need to be made.

Appearing on MSNBC, she stated, "There are so many things that have happened over the years that should be bringing both parties together but they don't."
She goes on to say there is systemic problem in training and also the need to get rid of qualified immunity.

Full article: https://www.rawstory.com/jim-jordan-tyr ... 659325407/

What could we expect from House Judiciary Committee chairman, Gym Jordan. He couldn't see any problem that could be corrected, with team doctor molesting young men at Ohio State.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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I remind you all that this Jim Jordan person is protected by an a phalanx of bodyguards armed with Sodium Chloride Weppenz. He doesn't want to tick off the protectors of his own backside. That's why so little has gotten done to hold these bullies accountable, be it by Democrats or Republicans.
"SF Liberal With A Gun + Free Software Advocate"
http://www.sanfranciscoliberalwithagun.com/
http://www.liberalsguncorner.com/
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Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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Heard an interview with the Shelby County (Memphis, TN) DA this morning, he's a federal prosecutor. Memphis uses SkyCop, they are the cameras that provided the hours of video in the Nichols case, his office is still going through video. What's been released is what the Nichols' family saw. US DOJ is also running an investigation and will likely indict. He didn't go into detail because that gives away his case.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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Three EMTs who responded to the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols were fired Monday after an internal investigation, the Memphis Fire Department said Monday. Robert Long, JaMichael Sandridge and Lt. Michelle Whitaker were found to have violated multiple department policies and protocols in their patient response to Nichols on Jan. 7, the fire department said in a statement. "Their actions or inactions on the scene that night do not meet the expectations of the Memphis Fire Department and are not reflective of the outstanding service the men and women of the Memphis Fire Department provide daily in our community," it said.

The fire department was sent to the scene of Nichols' traffic stop at 8:31 p.m. after police called because of a "person pepper sprayed," the fire department noted. Long, Sandridge and Whitaker were directed to a second location and arrived to find Nichols leaning against a police vehicle at 8:41 p.m., 10 minutes after the initial call. Long and Sandridge responded to Nichols, while Whitaker and a driver remained in the vehicle, the fire department said.

"Our investigation has concluded that the two EMT's responded based on the initial nature of the call (person pepper sprayed) and information they were told on the scene and failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment of Mr. Nichols," the fire department said. An ambulance was requested after their initial interaction with Nichols, the department said, and an emergency unit was dispatched at 8:46 p.m. The department said the unit arrived at the scene at 8:55 p.m., and initiated care and took Nichols to a hospital at 9:08 p.m. — about 27 minutes after Long, Sandridge and Whitaker arrived at the second location.
Preliminary findings in an autopsy a forensic pathologist conducted for Nichols’ family show he was severely beaten before he died, the family’s attorneys have said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/mem ... -rcna68284

Two more MPD cops were suspended. Two Shelby County sheriff's deputies were suspended earlier.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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The Scorpion Unit of Memphis PD:

Muscle Cars, Balaclavas and Fists: How the Scorpions Rolled Through Memphis
For 14 months, officers from the high-profile Scorpion unit of the Memphis Police Department patrolled city streets with an air of menace, zooming up on targets, jumping out of their Dodge Chargers at a dead run, shouting at people to get out of their vehicles, lie down on the ground. They did it to Damecio Wilbourn, 28, and his brother as they pulled up to an apartment building last February. They surrounded Davitus Collier, 32, as he went to buy beer for his father in May. And last month, they beat Monterrious Harris, 22, outside an apartment complex, where he said he was waiting to spend time with his cousin.

These and other Scorpion encounters typically began over something minor — a tinted window violation, a seatbelt infraction, a broken taillight or cracked windshield — and often resulted in officers finding illegal drugs, unregistered weapons, stolen cars and outstanding warrants. Their tactics could be aggressive, according to interviews and records, with arrestees being subdued by baton, pepper spray, Taser and the brute force of the officers’ fists. Mr. Wilbourn said that the Scorpion officers threw him against the car. They chased and eventually pepper sprayed a frightened Mr. Collier in the face. And when officers pulled Mr. Harris out of his car, he said, they beat him so severely that he was left with cuts and a black eye.

Three days after Mr. Harris’s arrest, on Jan. 7, several of the same officers involved would go on to swarm Tyre Nichols, pulling him from his car and kicking and beating the 29-year-old amateur photographer with a baton as he begged them to let him go home. He later died at the hospital. In some quarters of the city, Mr. Nichols’s death was shocking, but it was not a surprise. Even as city officials credited Scorpion officers with bringing down violent crime, their presence had spread fear in the predominantly low-income neighborhoods they patrolled, and records show that Black men were overwhelmingly their targets.
To city officials, the arrests and seizures that the Scorpions tallied on a near-daily basis signaled that the unit was achieving its mission in a city that had endured more than 300 homicides in 2021, a record. The city soon began touting the Scorpions’ hundreds of arrests, its seizures of scores of drugs, guns, vehicles and cash — with Memphis police noting on Facebook the unit’s role in high-profile cases, often posting photos of items that officers had confiscated. “Police have really changed and modified what they are doing under the Scorpion,” Mayor Jim Strickland said in a television interview on Jan. 11 — the day after Mr. Nichols died — while crediting the unit with helping reduce homicides in the city. “It is a team they have really directed at that.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/us/m ... rpion.html
https://archive.ph/wlvGX
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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CowboyT wrote: Sun Jan 29, 2023 12:48 am The way Tyre Nichols was treated--by Black cops, no less--is a sadly poignant example of Ice Cube's lyrics from NWA's protest song, "F--- Tha Police":
And on the other hand, without a gun, they can't get none
But don't let it be a black and a white one
'Cause they'll slam ya down to the street top
Black police showin' out for the white cop
This problem was also demonstrated during several scenes in the movie, "Boyz N The Hood", where a Black cop acted way out of turn with Black teenager Tre Styles. Also, it showed the police ambivalence when there was a home invasion stoped by his father, Furious Styles, and Furious called out the cops, especially the Black cop, on this.

The only way to stop this kind of thing from happening is to punish the cops the same way you and I would get punished for committing such a horrible act. That's the problem with "qualified immunity" as we have it today; it enables bullies with badges to do this sort of thing and usually not have anything bad happen to them.

Absolute power indeed corrupts absolutely, whether you're Black, White, or anything else.
I was thinking about that Ice Cube line in regards to this. And yes, there are Black people who take on the far right wing stance in regards to other Black people. Case in point, Candace Owens, Jason Whitlock, Brandon Tatum, David Clarke and other conservatives of their ilk. Remember, Tatum and Clarke was at one point a officers at one point. I'm pretty sure there are others like them.

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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Yup, Ice Cube got the police psychology right on that song…
But don't let it be a black and a white one
Cause they'll slam ya down to the street top
Black police showing out for the white cop
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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@ DaveLarry: Wild quote, thanks for that. A "team," huh? Jesus.

I wonder if any guys who are in a unit like that ever want out-- and how easy it is to walk away. Might be kind of like domestic violence: Saying, "Why don't you just leave?" or "Why don't you just stop?" is too simplistic.

I'm also not discounting racism, internalized or the conventional variety, by any means. But the toxic group dynamic seems to be the most common denominator in the most revolting incidents (and no, I'm not watching it either, I hear about quite enough violent and crazy shit at work) -- like so many other workplaces, the cream doesn't rise, it's the turds that float to the top, and everyone else seems to follow.

My experience has been that cops are really not all assholes. Some treat the job the way my buddy treated riding a motorcycle: Something kind of dangerous they do for ten years or so before moving on. They get into it for all the right reasons, learn from it, try to do their bit, and then they transition to an entirely different career.

I have had cops in my office and been stunned by how bravely they fought to overcome really, really severe symptoms of PTSD. The fear of being outed for seeing a psychotherapist was really extreme, and I had the sense that the consequences of being discovered might involve physical threats to safety. That individual really wanted to trust me, but at the end of the day, couldn't do it.

I have filed (child or elder abuse) reports against LEOs as well which resulted in other LEOs (of a different type) pounding on the door at 5:00 AM, and then had to sit with the perpetrator/LEO in my office for an hour while they evaded, minimized, and made not-so-veiled threats.

Outside of work, I have had a gun pointed at me exactly four times, twice by LEOs. The first encounter was entirely appropriate, professional and courteous, based on a regrettable circumstance outside either my control or the officer's. He was a rookie, but handled the situation perfectly. The second was at a party, a cop that I knew-- we were both intoxicated, and at some random moment he said "Look down" and showed me that his backup pistol was pointed at my crotch. There was no reason for it; it was completely random and out of context for what we were talking about.

I do not know why one cop simmers at a slow burn as their marriage goes up in flames, another becomes essentially a terrorist, a third is completely respectful and manages a confusing situation despite having almost no experience, and a fourth does something incredibly dangerous for absolutely no reason. It just sucks that the group dynamic is always set by the people who are-- by nature, or by nurture-- the most damaged.

Re: Video is released in the death of Tyre Nichols after he was stopped by Memphis cops.

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https://www.amazon.com/Police-Streetcor ... 0226546330

This is a great book exploring the different varieties of personalities that are in police-work. The book was given to me by a developmental social psychologist who did work with the Boulder Police Dept many years ago who felt that police-work is some of the most fascinating forms of energy-work there is among human beings. This book gave me a much deeper understanding of the kinds of stress and power that police encounter as a regular part of their job in society and how the four general personalities in police-work respond to them.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

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