Justice Department and Memphis to address the results of a scathing police investigation

Bodycam footage of Tyre Nichols after the severe beating that led to an investigation into the Memphis Police.

 Submitted by Adrian Sainz, Jonathan Mattise and Alanna Durkin Richer
(Source: Miami Times)

        The fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by officers after he ran away from a January 2023 traffic stop exposed serious problems in the Memphis Police Department, from its use of excessive force to its mistreatment of Black people in the majority-Black city, a federal investigation found.

A report released Wednesday revealed the findings of a 17-month Department of Justice investigation into Memphis police that began after officers kicked, punched and hit Nichols with a baton. Members of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division plan to discuss the report during a Thursday news conference, after which city officials are expected to offer a rebuttal at their own press availability.

Nichols was Black, as are the former officers involved in his beating. His death led to national protests, raised the volume on calls for police reforms in the U.S., and directed intense scrutiny towards the Memphis Police Department, more than half of whose members are Black, including Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis.

The federal probe looked at the department’s “pattern or practice” of how it uses force and conducts stops, searches and arrests, and whether it engages in discriminatory policing. The city said in a letter released before the report Wednesday that it would not agree to negotiate federal oversight of its police department until it could review and challenge the investigation’s findings

The investigation found that officers would punch, kick and use other force against people who were already handcuffed or restrained, which it described as unconstitutional but which were nearly always approved after the fact by supervisors. Officers resort to force likely to cause pain or injury “almost immediately in response to low-level, nonviolent offenses, even when people are not aggressive,” investigators determined.

“Memphis police officers regularly violate the rights of the people they are sworn to serve,” according to the report, which noted that Black people were disproportionately affected by such violations.

Memphis police cite or arrest Black people for loitering or curfew violations at 13 times the rate it does for white people and cite or arrest Black people for disorderly conduct at 3.6 times the rate of white people, the report said.

Police video showed officers pepper spraying Nichols and hitting him with a Taser before he ran from a traffic stop. Five officers chased down Nichols just steps from his home as he called out for his mother. The video showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled with his injuries.