Family and friends, as well as several other notable names, gathered in the US city of Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday to pay their final respects to Tyre Nichols — a Black man killed by police in January.
Vice President Kamala Harris was invited to the ceremony at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church where civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton was to hold a eulogy for Nichols.
Family members of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd — both of whom were killed by police and became rallying cries for the Black Lives Matter movement and some of the largest protests in recent US history — had also been invited.
What happened to Tyre Nichols?
The 29-year-old Nichols died on January 10 in hospital following injuries sustained in a violent encounter with police officers. The officers had pulled over his vehicle while he was on his way home on January 7.
Attorney and civil rights leader Ben Crump described the incident, in which a group of officers beat and kicked the man, as a “police lynching.”
Police released video footage of the confrontation on Friday, sparking widespread outrage and numerous protests.
Crump said the body camera footage showed officers taser, pepper spray and restrain Nichols for a traffic violation near his home as he returned from taking pictures of the sunset in a nearby park.
The footage also shows that the officers involved were also Black. This has opened up new discussions about the systemic nature of police violence and racism in the US.
Five of the officers involved were fired before being charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression. Two more officers have been relieved of duty and are under investigation, while three fire department workers were also fired.
ab/nm (Reuters, AP)
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