The Death of Tyre Nichols

Now that the world has seen this, some wonder if this will become a catalyst for change.

The New York Times stated on January 7th, 29-year-old Tyre Nichols was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, for “reckless driving.” There were five police officers involved in the arrest of this unarmed African American man. These men conspired against Tyre and ended up brutally beating Nicholas until he laid unconscious. Three days later, he died in a hospital from excessive blood loss.

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The New Jersey Globe said, “Tyre Nichols is now part of a group whose names we know — like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery — and whose names we don’t.” When asked about how people can put a stop to this, sophomore Hayden Powers adds, “A good way to prevent something like this from happening in the future would be for the government to apply more laws and restrictions toward law enforcement officers.” CBS News says that the five former policemen are officially fired and are being charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression.

Moreover, senior Ella Stephens states, “We should take action to make sure this never happens again.”  Additionally, Mr. Johnson of the New York Times says, “The color doesn’t matter, It’s just that you had officers taking a guy’s life.” Furthermore, Miriam Krinsky, a former prosecutor who is now executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, finds it revolting how the case was an African American being beaten by five police of the same race. The New York Times says, “The fact that Mr. Nichols was assaulted by Black officers, doesn’t mean that we should abandon what’s critical like diversifying police departments,” as they hope for improvement in all aspects of the police force. They also reacted to the horrific video footage of the extensive assault by saying, “In the past, law enforcement leaders have waited months to pursue charges, if they did at all, and video footage was not always released to the public.”

Now that the world has seen this, some wonder if this will become a catalyst for change.