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In a fiery speech, civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton compared the Memphis police officers who fatally beat Tyre Nichols to a group of gang members.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk a lot about the gangbangers in the street and what colours they wear,\u201d he said during remarks on Tuesday evening. \u201cIn Memphis, they wear the blue color, in uniform.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dWhy were they in an elite force and acting like hoodlums … killing a man,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
The Rev Al Sharpton speaks at the historic Mason Temple as he is flanked by RowVaughn Wells, right, mother of Tyre Nichols, and Tyre’s stepfather Rodney Wells<\/p>\n
(AP)<\/p>\n
Video released by Memphis police on Friday shows a group of officers punching, kicking, and tasing Nichols until he slumped motionless against a car. He died in hospital three days later, on 10 January.<\/p>\n
The civil rights activist said he and his fellow organisers wouldn\u2019t stop until federal action was taken to stop police violence like the kind the claimed the life of Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue until Tyre is able to head up to Martin\u2019s mountaintop,\u201d Mr Sharpton added, referring to the historic 1968 \u201cI\u2019ve Been to the Mountaintop\u201d speech Martin Luther King, Jr, gave at the Mason Temple where Rev Sharpton and the Nichols family were standing on Tuesday. \u201cThat\u2019s why we wanted to stand this on this sacred ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
King was assassinated the day after his speech.<\/p>\n
The reverend also accused officers of \u201ctalking a narrative to defend themselves while they were perpetrating the crime,\u201d a reference to officers claiming during conversations captured on body camera footage that Nichols was on drugs or reaching for their guns. <\/p>\n
During the speeches on Tuesday, NAACP Memphis president Van D Turner, Jr, also called on state officials to pass the recently proposed Tyre Nichols Criminal Justice Reform Bill, which would require police de-escalation, first aid, and intervention in cases of excessive force.<\/p>\n
A funeral for Nichols will be held on Wednesday in Memphis. Vice president Kamala Harris will be in attendance.<\/p>\n
Five former Memphis police officers, all of whom are Black, have been charged with murder in connection with the scandal.<\/p>\n
A sixth officer, identified as Preston Hemphill, who is white, has also been suspended with pay pending a hearing, and a seventh officer who was not immediately identified was relieved of duty without pay, police have said.<\/p>\n
Memphis police officials have admitted they have \u201cno proof\u201d officers had a reason to pull Nichols over in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve taken a pretty extensive look to determine, you know, what that probable cause was, and we have not been able to substantiate that,\u201d Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said last week. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that something didn\u2019t happen, but there\u2019s no proof.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest newsSign up to our free US Evening Headlines email In a fiery speech, civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton compared the Memphis police officers who fatally beat Tyre Nichols to a group of gang members. \u201cWe talk a lot about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n