Memphis: Biden accuses five black police officers of racism for killing black man

Joe Biden called the killing of young black man Tyre Nichols by five Memphis, Tenn. police officers racist. Although the five officers involved were also black, the president denounced that people from this community suffer a greater number of "fatal encounters" with law enforcement. Biden used the case to defend the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Authorities in Memphis and Los Angeles have called for calm amid fears of a new wave of violence resembling the reaction to the deaths of Floyd and Rodney King.

According to Biden, Nichols' death confirms "the fact that fatal encounters with law enforcement have disparately impacted Black and Brown people." The president insisted that "public trust is the foundation of public safety and there are still too many places in America today where the bonds of trust are frayed or broken. 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."

Biden calls for rebuilding of trust between police and minorities

The President did not miss the opportunity to exalt passage of the George Floyd Act.

Nichols, a 29-year-old black man, was arrested for an alleged reckless driving offense on Jan. 7. Officers used force to try to arrest him, and Nichols ended up requiring hospital care. The young man died from the injuries he sustained in the encounter three days later, according to the official report. The family's lawyers, who had access to police footage of the arrest, say that Nichols was tazed, pepper-sprayed and restrained, and they compared it to the 1991 Los Angeles police beating of Rodney King. "He was defenseless the whole time. He was a human piñata to those cops. It was an unadulterated, blatant, uninterrupted beating of this young man for three minutes. That's what we saw in that video. It wasn't just violent, it was savage," said the family's lawyer Antonio Romanucci.

The police will publish the footage

The Memphis Police Department plans to release the footage to the public in the near future, despite fears that their content could inflame tempers and provoke incidents. Chief Cerelyn Davis urged citizens not to be violent in the midst of "our outrage and frustration." She continued: "I hope our citizens will exercise their First Amendment right to protest to demand action and results. But we must ensure that our community is safe in this process. None of this is a justification for inciting violence or destruction in our community or against our citizens."

Davis announced that the officers involved were fired and condemned their actions. "This is not just a professional failure. This is a basic lack of humanity towards another individual," she asserted. "This incident was heinous, reckless and inhumane."

Tension in Memphis, Los Angeles and Atlanta

In the face of growing tension, especially notable in Memphis and Los Angeles, President Biden asked that Nichols' death not be a call to violence. "I join Tyre's family in calling for peaceful protest. Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable. Violence is destructive and against the law. It has no place in peaceful protests in search of justice," he said.

Authorities are also preparing for possible violence in Atlanta. Georgia's governor declared a state of emergency amid fears of a repeat of last Saturday's attacks on police. Radical leftist groups linked to Antifa made a call on social media for "a night of rage" in revenge for the death of an activist shot by police after shooting at officers during a protest.