NAACP calls for termination of Memphis officers, others after video shows beating of Tyre Nichols

The video released on Friday evening by the Memphis Police Department showed five of its officers beating and kicking now-deceased Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop escalated earlier this month, prompting outcry from the NAACP, who is calling for all involved to be fired.

The body cam footage and security footage from a nearby camera were publicly released on Friday, the day after all five officers involved were formally charged with second degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, misconduct and oppression. The video elicited horror and emotional reactions across the country. President Biden reacted to the footage on Friday night after its release, Tweeting a statement about Tyre Nichols’ death days after the beating.

“Like so many, I was outraged and deeply pained to see the horrific video of the beating that resulted in Tyre Nichols’ death,” President Biden wrote. “It is yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day.”

The NAACP has come out in response to the footage calling for the termination of not just the five officers who beat Nichols, who have already been fired, but anyone who was involved on the night he was beaten. “If you were an officer or first responder and you sat there and watched this young man die and you did nothing to help resuscitate him, you did nothing to give him aid, you’re just as culpable as the people who beat him down and killed him,” said NAACP Memphis Branch President Van Turner. “We want justice, and we want them brought to justice.”

The US Department of Justice also announced it had opened a civil rights investigation into the death of Tyre Nichols on January 18.