From Freddie Gray to Tyre Nichols, early police claims often misleading
Washington PostFeb 17, 2023
On Friday, five former Memphis, Tenn., police officers charged in the January death of 29-year-old Black man Tyre Nichols pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder.
They also pleaded not guilty to aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression. They have been released on bond, with their next hearing scheduled for May 1.
As with George Floyd, Freddie Gray, Breonna Taylor, and countless others, the original police report failed to include Nichols' injuries from the taser, pepper spray, and multiple baton strikes to his body. When it comes to unarmed black victims, the police have a pattern of lying about the threat the so-called suspects posed and then continuing to lie after the fact. This is clearly part of a far larger and deadly pattern in policing in the US.
According to some of the nation's most influential newspapers, the reason behind Tyre Nichols' death is racism — an erroneous and senseless diagnosis that promotes dangerous solutions, such as the abolition of police. Those responsible should undoubtedly be held accountable, but the justice system should be left to do this without media extortion that peddles further division.