NAACP Memphis Branch President Van Turner comments on Tyre Nichols’ death

Tyre Nichols an avid photographer was pulled over by five police officers from Memphis Police Department on the 7th of January and was beaten to death. He was just 29 years old.

Tyre’s death prompted protests all over the United States and a video of the traffic stop was released on Friday evening which showed the police officers pepper spraying, tasing, and beating Nichols.

On Sunday afternoon, after three consecutive days of protests and two days after the videotape of Nichols’ beating was released to the public, NAACP Memphis Branch President Van Turner made comments at a press conference. He said;
“If you were an officer or first responder and you sat there and watched this young man die and you did nothing to help resuscitate him, you did nothing to give him aid, you’

Nichols’ death is still under investigation by the FBI and has resulted in the firing, arrest and prosecution of five former Memphis police officers. According to court records, those officers were charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of government misconduct and one count of oppression of government. The five officers who were part of the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION unit were permanently decommissioned on Saturday, according to the MPD.

SCORPION stands for Street Crime Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhood.

I watched the video, and it is really sickening. The way they jumped at him, it’s unbelievable to think that these people were trained cops.

Just an innocent boy that was just on his way home, and beaten like he murdered someone. They were eight cops there (five constantly hitting him and the other three taking turns). They waited as he struggled for his life and died.

They can’t even treat a criminal like this. This is really sad.

Photo culled from Commercial Appeal and NYpost.