By Kalyn Womack
Just a few days after Tyre Nichols died from injuries inflicted by Memphis police, a man named Darryl Tyree Williams also had a fatal run-in with the cops over in Raleigh, NC. According to CNN, six police officers have been put on administrative leave after tasing Williams multiple times, leading to his death.
While we were protesting for answers in the Tyre Nichols case, Williams’ family was fighting to figure out what happened on Jan 17. Reports say Williams was sitting in a parked car when officers J.T. Thomas and C.D. Robinson approached him and allegedly saw an open container and marijuana.
Both Williams and his passenger were told to exit the vehicle for a body search; the two repeatedly asked why they were being told to step out of the vehicle and the reason for the search. Robinson then threatened to handcuff Williams if he didn’t follow his instructions.
After the officer found a folded-up dollar bill with a white powdery substance, he attempted to detain Williams and things escalated.
Robinson then deployed his taser, which contacted Williams as he attempted to flee, while the other officers continue to yell at him to put his hands behind his back. After a physical scuffle, Williams tried to escape the officers again but lost his balance and fell while attempting to run across the parking lot.
A taser was deployed again at this point, which police said also did not contact Williams. An officer is heard yelling at Williams to “get on the f***king ground” while officers appeared to put their body weight on top of him to prevent the man from getting up.
Robinson and Thomas deployed two separate tasers in “drive stun mode” which both contacted Williams in about a 50-second time span, police said. According to the memo, the taser deployed by Thomas contacted Williams’ side while Robinson’s taser contacted the left side of Williams’ back.
Williams appeared to be audibly and visibly in distress as the officers continued yelling at him to stay on the ground with his hands behind his back, the video shows. At this point, Williams is heard saying he has “heart problems” as he begged for officers to stop.
In the remainder of the video Williams is heard screaming in pain and squirming on the ground from the shocks of the Taser. The incident lasted all of five minutes. Then, the officers began questioning if Williams was breathing and performed CPR when they didn’t find a pulse.
Williams was pronounced dead one hour later.
We began the year with two major police-related killings: Keenan Anderson who was tased into cardiac arrest by the Los Angeles police, and Tyre Nichols who was beaten and tased by Memphis police. Rev. Al Sharpton reminded us during Tyre Nichols’ eulogy that there are many other Black people dying at the hands of police whose names don’t get the same publicity. Justice can’t only be reserved for the names we see in the news.
“Justice, not just for Darryl Tyree Williams, but for all the victims of state sanctioned violence across the nation,” said Dawn Blarove, executive director of Emancipate NC. “That’s what his mother wants the world to know”
