The Rev. Al Sharpton called video footage showing Memphis police officers beating Tyre Nichols during a Jan. 7 traffic stop “horrific.”
“Nearly three years after the murder of George Floyd shook the world, here we are,” he said in a statement Friday. “This video should be all a jury needs to convict each of the five officers who relentlessly beat Tyre Nichols to death. Justice needs to be delivered for Tyre and his family. I don’t think anyone who could stomach getting through this footage would disagree.”
Nichols, 29, died three days after the traffic stop.
The civil rights activist said that unless officers “continually see that those who use blunt force will go to jail,” the cycle of police brutality will continue.
“They need to understand that a badge isn’t a shield that lets them kill someone during a traffic stop,” he said. “And the only way to do that is through convictions and legislation.”
Sharpton, the host of MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation,” will further address the video Saturday at the House of Justice in Harlem. On Wednesday, he will deliver the eulogy at Nichols’ funeral in Memphis.
