5 US Police Officers Plead "Not Responsible" To Deadly Beating Of Black Man

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All the officers have been fired by the Memphis police division.

Washington:

Legal professionals for 5 officers mentioned they pleaded “not responsible” Friday to prices that they murdered Tyre Nichols, a younger Black man who died after a police beating in Memphis, Tennessee final month.

Movies of the incident confirmed the 5 officers, who’re all Black, repeatedly kicking and punching Nichols in a visitors cease near his residence on January 7, three days earlier than he died in hospital.

Attorneys representing the 5, all of whom have been fired by the Memphis police division, appeared in a short preliminary plea listening to for an explosive trial that has drawn nationwide consideration to the problems of police abuse and mistreatment of African Individuals.

Decide James Jones acknowledged these sensitivities as he warned the defendants and the household of Nichols current in court docket that the trial may very well be lengthy and contain “excessive feelings,” and urged “civility” for all these concerned.

“Everybody concerned desires this case to be concluded as rapidly as potential. However it’s necessary for you all to know that the state of Tennessee in addition to every certainly one of these defendants have an absolute proper to a good trial.”

“And I cannot permit any habits that would jeopardize that proper,” he mentioned.

Saying that there’s a great amount of proof to be collected, Jones set the subsequent court docket date for Might 1.

Nichols, 29, was stopped by members of a particular police anti-crime squad referred to as the Scorpion Unit in Memphis on January 7 for an alleged visitors violation, in accordance with police.

The explanation the officers stopped him stays unknown.

Nichols was crushed viciously by police, in scenes recorded in physique digicam and safety digicam footage that triggered nationwide outrage when it was made public late final month.

Apart from the 5 officers charged with second diploma homicide, a sixth one has been fired and different officers, together with three firefighters, suspended.

Nichols was buried on February 1 in a ceremony attended by Vice chairman Kamala Harris, who mentioned his beating “was not in pursuit of public security.”

“This can be a household that misplaced their son and their brother via an act of violence by the hands and the toes of people that had been charged with preserving them secure,” she informed the gathering at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church.

The subsequent day, in a gathering with Black lawmakers, President Joe Biden urged Congress to place via stalled police reforms, citing Nichols’ loss of life.

“My hope is, this darkish reminiscence spurs some motion that we have all been preventing for,” Biden mentioned.

(This story has not been edited by Timesof24 employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)