WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th January, 2023) All five of the Memphis police officers who beat Tyre Nichols to death after a traffic stop have been indicted for second-degree murder, among other charges, the family's attorney Benjamin Crump said on Thursday.
On January 10, Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, died three days after being beaten by the five officers after he fled a traffic stop in Memphis.
"The 5 former Memphis Police Department officers have been indicted by a grand jury on charges ranging from second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression for the death of Tyre Nichols," Crump said via Twitter.
The five officers, all of whom are Black, were jailed on Thursday, several media outlets reported, citing Shelby County Jail booking information.
Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies nationwide are bracing for protests that are expected to erupt once the police bodycam footage of the beating is publicly released, sources told CNN.
Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis in a clip released on youtube on Wednesday urged residents not to react violently when the body cam footage is released in coming days.
The Major Cities Chiefs Association, one of the leading professional law enforcement organizations, has convened several calls with member agencies, according to the group's executive director, Laura Cooper.
Although the video has not yet been released to the public, the Nichols family, their attorney Ben Crump and members of his team were shown the video on Monday.�The attorneys said the officers used Nicholas as a "human pinata" as he was pinned to the ground.�
Nichols' death at the hands of police officers is one of a string of police-involved killings of Black people in the United States over the years and has placed renewed scrutiny on the issue. National and global protests following the police murder of George Floyd and several "national conversations" were attempts to hold law enforcement responsible in such cases.
