Local authorities have said that the U.S. Justice Department will take part in a study of the Memphis Police Department following the murder of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who was fatally assaulted by police in the Tennessee city last month, Reuters reports.
The review was announced in a bulletin by Jim Strickland, the mayor of Memphis. The bulletin stated that the city had asked for an “independent, external assessment” to evaluate the Memphis Police Department’s special units and use-of-force regulations. The Justice Department and the International Association of Chiefs of Police would participate.
“To honor Tyre and help make sure this type of tragedy does not happen again, the City of Memphis has engaged the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (“COPS”), through the Collaborative Reform Initial Technical Assistant Center (“CRI-TAC”) program, and the International Association of Police Chiefs (IACP) to conduct a review of the Memphis Police Department. The independent, external review by these agencies will include an assessment of MPD’s Special Units and use of force policies,” Strickland said in the bulletin.
“While we no doubt have a long way to go on the road to healing, hopefully through our actions, citizens will see we are working to be better and that we are heading down the right path,” the Mayor continued.
On Sunday, a request for comment from the Justice Department did not get a prompt response.
The sixth officer implicated in the killing of Nichols was dismissed by Memphis police on Friday. Earlier, second-degree murder charges were brought against five more policemen, all of whom were Black. White police officer number six gets dismissed.
Following a traffic stop on January 7, the five Memphis police officers accused of killing the Black motorist beat Nichols mercilessly with kicks, punches, and baton blows, according to footage provided by the city.
In the city, where he resided with his mother and stepfather and worked at FedEx, he was taken to the hospital and passed away from his wounds three days after the altercation.
His passing has intensified a heated conversation about racial injustice and police brutality that has been taking on in the United States.
According to the city, the assessment would include participation from the Justice Department’s Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services.
During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday in Washington, RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, and Rodney Wells, his stepfather, is expected to be present.
Vice President Kamala Harris and the family of other Black individuals murdered by police in American cities attended Tyre Nichols’ burial on Wednesday, which was conducted in a Memphis church.
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