{"id":29728,"date":"2023-02-02T04:45:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/our-view-tyre-nichols-his-death-changes-policing\/"},"modified":"2023-02-02T11:45:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T11:45:00","slug":"our-view-tyre-nichols-his-death-changes-policing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/our-view-tyre-nichols-his-death-changes-policing\/","title":{"rendered":"Our View: Tyre Nichols: His death changes policing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019ve had parents of young Black men tell us they\u2019ve had \u201cthe talk,\u201d offering advice if pulled over by police. Don\u2019t argue. Don\u2019t fight. Keep your hands where officers can see them. Don\u2019t run.<\/p>\n

Twenty-nine-year-old Tyre Nichols, a Black father, skateboarder, an avid photographer of blazing sunsets over the Mississippi River, followed basic instructions from \u201cthe talk,\u201d except when running away was a desperate attempt to save himself. At that traffic stop that turned into a savage and deadly beating, not one of the Memphis Police Department officers, all Black, at the scene tried to bring down the temperature and protect \u2013 yes, protect Nichols. That\u2019s what Nichols needed. Protection from a mob\u2019s rage.<\/p>\n

So much comes from those videos. The horror, disgust and casual cruelty of the police officers who gave Nichols 71 commands in 13 minutes. You\u2019re \u201creally doing a lot right now,\u201d Nichols said, as officers shouted directions and pulled his arms, with one officer threatening to break his hands.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need a court of law to say these police officers were bad seeds. Monsters, even. Mean and incompetent from the start, with the first officer filmed charged up and ready for assault as a sport.<\/p>\n

Unconscionable.<\/p>\n

Nichols\u2019 death was a \u201cfailing of basic humanity,\u201d Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said. For her part, Davis\u2019 actions were swift. The five were fired within two weeks; charged with second-degree murder and videos released within three weeks; and SCORPION or Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods, disbanded soon afterward. We\u2019re waiting on news of the sixth white officer on administrative leave.<\/p>\n

The days are over of police departments holding onto videos, conducting investigations for six months or longer or putting alleged criminals \u2013 police officers \u2013 on extended leave. Citizens won\u2019t stand for it.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was a flash point. Now, Nichols\u2019 death begins the trajectory in how police brutality will be investigated.<\/p>\n

Davis was on the fast track because she had to be. All information had to be released as soon as humanly possible. Any efforts to keep details under wraps would be untenable. With cameras on street poles, in cellphones and on bodycams, the truth comes out sooner these days.<\/p>\n

We must say, Davis\u2019 taking-care-of-business attitude likely prevented deaths around the country with demonstrators staying relatively calm. She indirectly helped keep the peace. We\u2019re thankful for that.<\/p>\n

Yet, she was the supervisor of other supervisors over SCORPION. Someone must have known who these men were. Someone trained them. Being so bold in their brutality is evidence of a sick work culture, tolerating this behavior. One question is whether Davis was also complicit.<\/p>\n

Something else. Nichols\u2019 family was offered a private viewing of the videos before they were made public. Nichols\u2019 mother, RowVaughn Wells, only made it through the first minute, family attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci said.<\/p>\n

Other agencies are doing the same thing. It\u2019s not uncommon for family members to first refuse to see videos all the way through. It\u2019s the reason some family members are later surprised about details in police reports or from videos when the court date arrives. We have to be conscious of this.<\/p>\n

We hope that Nichols\u2019 wrenching death leads to reform, improved standards and trainings for law enforcement. Here\u2019s what we want. Only police academy candidates with cool heads \u2013 willing to learn skills to defuse situations \u2013 need apply. They must know that clear, precise, reasonable commands are critical when engaging with the public.<\/p>\n

And genuine compassion. Those missing that chip shouldn\u2019t be accepted within police culture or its ranks.<\/p>\n

Because Tyre Nichols was just a man trying to get home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve had parents of young Black men tell us they\u2019ve had \u201cthe talk,\u201d offering advice if pulled over by police. Don\u2019t argue. Don\u2019t fight. Keep your hands where officers can see them. Don\u2019t run. Twenty-nine-year-old Tyre Nichols, a Black father, skateboarder, an avid photographer of blazing sunsets over the Mississippi River, followed basic instructions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[125],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-newsletter-opinion"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29728"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}