After the brutal police operation against a black man in the US city of Memphis, there are further personal consequences. Two police officers and three firefighters were suspended.
A police spokeswoman said on Monday that one of the police officers had already been removed from duty “at the beginning of the investigation into the death of Tire Nichols along with the other officers”.
The police in the city in the state of Tennessee did not give a reason for the suspension. The number of police officers released from duty thus rose to a total of seven.
The Memphis Fire Department announced on Monday (local time) that it had fired two paramedics and an ambulance driver. The Memphis Fire Department chief said they did not provide adequate medical care to the victim, 29-year-old Tire Nichols, after the police violence.
First, five black police officers who were directly involved in the operation were dismissed from duty. Charges were brought against her. The five men are accused of, among other things, aggravated assault and second-degree murder, in Tennessee this corresponds to an intermediate stage between murder and manslaughter.
Nichols was brutally beaten by police officers during a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 7. He died in hospital three days later from his severe injuries.
Released video of action
On Friday, the authorities then released video footage of the incident, which caused great outrage in the United States. Lawyers for Nichols’ family said Monday the sixth police officer fired a stun gun at the 29-year-old early in the violent arrest.
Nichols’ family said they were “extremely disappointed” that the officer, who has worked for the Memphis Police Department since 2018, was not fired and charged like the other officers. “Certainly the question arises as to why the white police officer involved in this brutal attack was shielded and shielded from the light of public view, and up until now, from adequate discipline and accountability,” the family said.
The police officer’s lawyer told the Washington Post that the officer was at the scene of the first confrontation between the police and Nichols, but not at the place where the other officers brutally beat the 29-year-old a short time later.
Nichols was initially stopped at an intersection, pulled out of his car and pinned to the ground by police officers. The officers also used pepper spray and a so-called taser, while apparently confusing Nichols with contradictory orders.
Nichols then got free and ran, but after a short chase he was stopped again and punched and kicked by police officers. The case has sparked protests across the US and reignited debate over police violence against African Americans. (dpa, AFP)
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