Tyre Nichols killing: Memphis braces as five ex-officers charged with murder over father-of-one who was beaten like ‘a human pinata’
A grand jury has indicted five former police officers on murder and other charges in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols.
US President Joe Biden called for any protests to be peaceful following the charges on Thursday.
Nichols, 29, died in hospital three days after a confrontation during a traffic stop in the US city of Memphis, Tennessee, on 7 January.
The father of one had been arrested after being stopped for reckless driving, police said, before being allegedly beaten by the officers for three minutes.
Five black officers involved in the arrest were subsequently sacked after a police investigation found they used excessive force or failed to intervene and help him.
Officials are expected to release bodycam footage of the incident on Friday evening.
A photo of Tyre Nichols at his memorial service in Memphis. Pic: AP
“We’re here today because of a tragedy that wounds one family deeply but also hurts us all,” district attorney Steve Mulroy said at a news conference.
He added that the five officers have been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping and official misconduct.
The Memphis Police Department identified them as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr, and Justin Smith, who are all black and aged between 24 and 32.
Each officer had served with the department for around two and a half to five years, and were dismissed from the force last Saturday.
Meanwhile, two Memphis Fire Department employees who were involved in the response were also relieved of their duties during an investigation, a department spokesperson said earlier this week.
Tyre Nichols was a father of one. Pic: Ben Crump Law
President Biden said in a statement: “Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable.
“Tyre’s death is a painful reminder that we must do more to ensure that our criminal justice system lives up to the promise of fair and impartial justice, equal treatment and dignity for all.”
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said on Wednesday that other police officers remain under investigation for police infractions.
In a video shared on YouTube, she asked for calm when the bodycam footage is made public.
“I expect you to feel what the Nichols family feels. I expect you to feel outrage in the disregard of basic human rights,” she said.
“I expect our citizens to exercise their First Amendment right to protest, to demand action and results, but we need to ensure our community is safe in this process.”
Several recent incidents of police brutality against black people in the US have sparked outrage and calls for reforms in policing.
The Nichols family watched the police footage on Monday with their lawyer, Ben Crump, who compared the beating to the 1991 Los Angeles police assault on Rodney King that was captured on video and sparked protests and police reforms.
“He was defenceless the entire time. He was a human pinata for those police officers,” Antonio Romanucci, Mr Crump’s co-counsel, told reporters.
Mr Crump said Nichols’ last words heard on the video were of him calling for his mother three times.
Former US vice president Dick Cheney has died from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family has said.
In a statement, his family said the 84-year-old was surrounded by his wife Lynne, daughters Liz and Mary, and other family members.
The Republican was one of the most polarising vice presidents in US history under George W Bush from 2001 to 2009, and was a leading advocate of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Dick Cheney with George W Bush. Pic: Reuters
In later life, he became a target of Donald Trump, especially after his daughter, Liz Cheney, became the leading Republican critic and examiner of Mr Trump’s actions surrounding the January 6 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.
“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who was a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Mr Cheney said in a TV advert for his daughter.
“He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward.”
Dick Cheney looks on as his daughter Liz Cheney takes the oath of office in 2017. Pic: AP
Last year he said he was voting for Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, to be president against Mr Trump.
Mr Cheney survived five heart attacks and declared in 2013 he woke up each morning “with a smile on my face, thankful for the gift of another day”.
Pic: Reuters
His family’s statement said: “For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming’s Congressman, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President of the United States.
“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing.
“We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country.
“And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
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US
Zohran Mamdani: ‘Trump’s worst nightmare’ could be about to show how to take the fight to the president
Zohran Mamdani calls himself “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare”. They are the words of a man living the dream.
It’s because the 34-year-old is the headline act in Tuesday’s referendum on Trump 2.0. A statement night in US politics, as Americans – some, at least – deliver a verdict on what they’ve seen so far.
Of four electoral contests across the US – including in California, New Jersey and Virginia – the race to be New York mayor is the most compulsive and consequential.
The polls have Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, as the frontrunner. If he wins, it would signify big change in the Big Apple.
Read more: Who is Zohran Mamdani?
Pics: AP
Born in Uganda to Indian parents (he moved to the US aged seven), Mamdani would become New York’s first Muslim mayor.
He is a democratic socialist whose supporters will see victory as laying down a template for taking on Trump, even if the party’s old guard is sceptical.
An effective campaign has focused on the costs and quality of life in New York, promising universal childcare, a rent freeze, free bus travel and grocery shops run by the city.
Progressives Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez have endorsed Mamdani. Pic: Andrea Renault/STAR MAX/IPx/AP
So why is he controversial?
The message has resonated with New Yorkers squeezed on affordability, but his payment plan is open to question.
Mamdani plans to raise $9bn by raising taxes on the wealthy and on corporations, but he would face a struggle to gain the necessary consent of the New York State legislature and governor.
Mamdani’s politics are pegged to the “progressive” left wing of his party, and his campaign success plays into the Democrats’ quandary around a longer-term comeback strategy.
The politics that succeed in New York don’t necessarily resonate nationwide, and a party establishment has been reluctant to embrace Mamdani.
Democrat Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader, has declined to endorse him at all.
Party management aside, he won’t have been impressed when Mamdani was arrested outside Schumer’s Brooklyn home as part of a 2023 protest calling for a ceasefire following Hamas’ October 7th attack on Israel.
Mamdani has been a staunch critic of Israel and, in the past, has advocated defunding the police, decriminalising prostitution and closing New York City jails.
Mamdani was at the White House to announce a hunger strike demanding a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Gaza in November 2023. Pic: AP
His background and Islamic faith are threaded through opposition attacks. He has been criticised for refusing to denounce the phrase “globalise the intifada”, used by pro-Palestinian activists.
Subsequently, he said he would “discourage” the term and would combat antisemitism through actions as well as words.
It hasn’t stopped his Republican rival, Curtis Sliwa, claiming Mamdani supported “global jihad”.
Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, has labelled him “the most divisive candidate I have ever experienced in New York”.
Andrew Cuomo. Pic: AP
Trump gives Cuomo an endorsement – of sorts
Cuomo, the former New York governor who resigned over sexual harassment allegations, is Mamdani’s closest contender who has received support – of sorts – from Trump.
The president, who falsely labels Mamdani a communist, said on Truth Social on the eve of the election: “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice.
“You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”
At a rally the same night, Mamdani fired back to say: “The MAGA movement’s embrace of Andrew Cuomo is reflective of Donald Trump’s understanding that this would be the best mayor for him.
“Not the best mayor for New York City, not the best mayor for New Yorkers, but the best mayor for Donald Trump and his administration.”
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The Republican spin on the prospect of a Mamdani victory is that it would reflect a move towards radical extremism by the Democratic Party.
Trump has even suggested he may withhold federal funds from New York if Mamdani wins.
In time, Democrats would need to interpret and apply the lessons of a Mamdani victory. But more than anything else, they need a win to feel a pulse in a party undergoing an identity crisis.
Read more from Sky News:
Corbyn reveals how many people have joined Your Party
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During the primaries, Mamdani held a news conference outside Cuomo’s apartment in March. Pic: zz/Andrea Renault/STAR MAX/IPx
One battle after another
The same applies to Tuesday contests for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, fascinating in terms of the vote winners and vote breakdown.
What will be the verdict, nine months in, of people who turned to Trump at the last election? Will he hold onto the Latino vote, given his immigration policy, ICE raids, and other orders?
In California, Tuesday sees a redistricting vote to counter Republican gerrymandering elsewhere. If backed by the public, the plan will increase the number of winnable Democratic seats in the House of Representatives.
Read more: The controversial tactic both parties are using ahead of midterms
It is the initiative of California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.
If he wins the day, his party will be enhanced and so will he, as the potential party nominee for president come the election in 2028.
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