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Trump claims Chicago is ‘world’s most dangerous city’. The four most violent ones are all in red states
As Donald Trump threatens to deploy national guard units to Chicago and Baltimore, ostensibly to quell violence, a pattern has emerged as he describes which cities he talks about.Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Baltimore.But not Jackson, Birmingham, St Louis or Memphis.An analysis of crime trends over the last four years shows two things. First, violent crime rates in America’s big cities have been falling over the last two years, and at an even greater rate over the last six months. The decrease in violence in America is unprecedented.Second, crime in large cities in the aggregate is lower in states with Democratic leadership. But the president focuses his ire almost exclusively on large blue cities in blue states, sidestepping political conflict with red Republican governors.The four cities of populations larger than 100,000 with the highest murder rates in 2024 are in Republican states: Jackson, Mississippi (78.7 per 100,000 residents), Birmingham, Alabama (58.8), St Louis, Missouri (54.1) and Memphis, Tennessee (40.6).On Tuesday, Trump called Chicago “the most dangerous city in the world”, and pledged to send military troops there, as well as to Baltimore. “I have an obligation. This isn’t a political thing,” he said at a press conference. “I have an obligation when 20 people are killed over the last two and a half weeks and 75 are shot with bullets.”When talking about crime in Chicago, Trump regularly refers to the number of people who may have been shot and killed there. But Chicago has a population of about 2.7 million, which is larger than each of the least-populous 15 states. It is roughly the same population as Mississippi. Chicago’s homicide rate for 2024 was 17.5 murders for every 100,000 residents, only a few points higher than that of the state of Louisiana, which was 14.5 per 100,000 in 2024.As has become tradition, news outlets reported how many people were killed in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend. At Louisiana’s rates, one would predict almost twice as many people to have been murdered there over the long weekend.But those numbers are harder to count. Chicago police report a single figure. One has to scour a hundred local news sites around Louisiana to aggregate the count for comparison.Notably, Trump discussed sending troops to New Orleans this week. “We’re making a determination now,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “Do we go to Chicago or do we go to a place like New Orleans, where we have a great governor, Jeff Landry, who wants us to straighten out a very nice section of this country that’s become quite, you know, quite tough, quite bad?”And Landry signaled his willingness to accede. “We will take President Trump’s help from New Orleans to Shreveport!” he wrote on X, posting a clip of the exchange.Still, Chicago is bracing to be the next city targeted by the Trump administration. To date this year, 278 people have been killed in Chicago, 118 fewer people killed when compared with 2024. It is at pace for 412 deaths for the year, which would be a rate of about 15 per 100,000 residents. The rate is likely to be lower still than that, because homicide rates increase during summer months.The Windy City ranked 37th in homicide rate in 2024 for cities larger than 50,000 residents in the United States. For cities with more than 100,000 residents, it placed 14th. This year, it is likely to slide farther down the list, even as violence falls to 60-year lows.As reported by the FBI’s crime data unit in August, the United States had a homicide rate of about 4.6 per 100,000 residents in 2024. It is the lowest figure since 2014, and very close to the generational lows of 4 to 4.5 per 100,000 last experienced in the early 1960s. The pandemic wave of increased violence has largely receded.“We know that across the nation [violence is] going down,” said Dr Thaddeus Johnson, a former Tennessee police officer and senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice, a policy thinktank.The 2024 homicide rate in the US decreased by about 15%, one of the largest drops in American history. Most of that decrease can be attributed to declines in the largest cities, Johnson said.Criminal justice researchers tend to place higher value on murder rates than other indicators of violent crime, because murder statistics are harder to manipulate. “It’s the most trustworthy data point,” Johnson said. But it’s not the only data point. “When you start talking about aggravated assaults and robberies, generally, we’ve seen that going down across the nation as well.”Both Chicago and Baltimore implemented or expanded antiviolence programs in 2022 using American Rescue Plan funding – much of which has been cut under Trump. Baltimore’s homicide rate has fallen about 40% since 2020, and in 2025 is pacing a 50-year low to date.Violent crime had also been falling in Washington DC by substantial margins before Trump took over the city’s policing. His announcement last month referenced DC’s 2023 crime rates, which spiked during the pandemic, while saying nothing about the precipitous fall since.In January, the Metropolitan police department and US attorney’s office reported that total violent crime in DC in 2024 was down 35% from the prior year, marking the lowest rate in over 30 years.The Guardian analyzed the murder rates for the largest 50 cities in the US and found that cities in blue states had the lowest, with just 7.8 murders per 100,000 people. The cities in red states have a much higher murder rate, of 12.9. Cities in swing states sit in the middle, with a murder rate of 10.2.Baltimore ranks fifth on a list of cities over 50,000 population by murder rate in 2024, as reported to the FBI statisticians. Washington DC is 15th. Between them are Wilmington, Delaware; Detroit; Cleveland; Dayton, Ohio; North Little Rock, Arkansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Shreveport, Louisiana; Camden, New Jersey, and Albany, Georgia.Compliance with federal rules on crime reporting is incomplete, and some agencies report incomplete data. One notable example of this is Jackson, Mississippi, which has consistently gathered crime data but only started submitting it to the FBI’s system this year. Jackson recorded 111 homicides in 2024, in a population of about 141,000: a rate of 78.7, the highest in America for any city with a population over 50,000.Though St Louis posted the second-highest homicide rate in 2024, violence there has been falling since 2023, and is on pace today for a 10% annual drop. Its rate will fall less sharply, however, because St Louis is losing population.Memphis led the country’s homicide rate in 2023. To date in 2025, murders and non-negligent homicides are down about 25%, after a 22% decrease in 2024. Like Baltimore, Memphis leaders attribute the decrease in part to an aggressive gun violence reduction initiative, Memphis Allies.Notably, small changes in smaller cities can have a big statistical effect.Birmingham, with a population of about 200,000, has cut its murder rate by more than half since the start of the year. Local officials attribute this, in part, to the arrest of a handful of people accused of violence, including Damien McDaniel, who has been charged in the murders of 18 people as a hired hitman. His arrest in October – and that of four other people who are linked to him – coincides with a 55% drop in Birmingham’s homicide rate since. More
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Kyle Rittenhouse speech at University of Memphis sparks outrage
Kyle Rittenhouse, a 21-year-old gun rights activist who was acquitted after shooting dead two people and injuring another during racial justice protests in 2020, sparked fierce outrage during a speech at the University of Memphis.On Wednesday, Rittenhouse was met with widespread student protests as he spoke at a campus event organized by the university’s chapter of Turning Point USA, a conservative student organization.Rittenhouse’s speech topics included the importance of the second amendment and “the lies of Black Lives Matter”, according to event details.Pictures posted online showed students protesting Rittenhouse’s appearance with signs that said “Murderers don’t belong here!” and “Where’s the tears now, lil boy?” – an apparent reference to Rittenhouse’s emotional sobs during his murder trial in 2021.In August 2020, Rittenhouse, who was 17 years old at the time, traveled from his home in Antioch, Illinois, armed with an AR-15-style rifle to aid a Kenosha-based militia that was calling for protection for businesses against protesters supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.At the protests, Rittenhouse shot and killed 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum before shooting and killing 26-year-old Anthony Huber. Rittenhouse also wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, a 26-year-old protester and volunteer medic at the time who carried his own gun.Following a widely watched and controversial trial in which he repeatedly claimed self-defense, Rittenhouse was acquitted in November 2021. His acquittal was largely regarded by critics as a revelation of the favorable treatment from law enforcement towards white self-styled militant vigilantes, in contrast to the treatment meted out to racial justice protestors.The University of Memphis said it was legally obligated to allow Rittenhouse to speak despite the widespread protests.“The upcoming event at the University of Memphis featuring Kyle Rittenhouse is not sponsored by the university. A registered student organization, University of Memphis TPUSA, is hosting the event. Under the first amendment and Tennessee’s Campus Free Speech Act, the University of Memphis cannot legally prohibit such events from being hosted by a registered student organization,” it said, the Commercial Appeal reported.Speaking to WREG, one student said: “They’re portraying him like this icon for the gun people … We already have enough gun violence in Memphis itself, so having this guy come here and spread racist views and also talking about how we need more guns on the street … I think it’s awful, just baffling, that they allow this. Because this is borderline free speech, but this is more toward hate speech.”Another student told WMC-TV: “We’re also a city that is predominately Black and we’re also a city that is grappling with gun violence … We are actively giving a platform to a white nationalist.”One video posted online showed students booing and walking out of the auditorium as Rittenhouse spoke. Another video showed a student yelling to Rittenhouse: “What lie? What lie? Tell me the lies of Black Lives Matter? Tell me the lies you’re [going to] talk about?”In a separate video, a student was seen confronting Rittenhouse, who was on stage with a dog, about comments made by Turning Point USA’s founder Charlie Kirk.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“The CEO of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, has said a lot of racist things,” the student said from his seat.“What racist things has Charlie Kirk said?” Rittenhouse replied before repeating his question.“He says that we shouldn’t celebrate Juneteenth, we shouldn’t celebrate Martin Luther King Day – we should be working those days – he called [supreme court justice] Ketanji Brown Jackson an affirmative action hire, he said all this nonsense about George Floyd and he said he’d be scared if a Black pilot was on a plane. Does that not seem racist?” the student said.In response, Rittenhouse said: “I don’t know anything about that.”“Well, after all the things I just told you, would you consider that hate speech?” the student asked.“I’m not going to comment on that,” Rittenhouse said, prompting cries from the audience.Following the event, Rittenhouse posted a video on X, saying: “Great event! I think it’s funny that a lot of the media is saying that we got booed off stage. In reality we did a hard cut off time and just happened to leave at that.” More
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While attending the funeral of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old man beaten to death by police in Memphis, Tennessee, this week, Kamala Harris called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed in the House in 2021 but failed in the Senate.
Jonathan Freedland speaks to Dr David Thomas, of Florida Gulf Coast University, about why lawmakers find police reform a difficult issue to legislate onHow to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know
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Tyre Nichols officers used force in prior cases and failed to document it
Tyre Nichols officers used force in prior cases and failed to document itTwo officers were reprimanded for failing to document incidents and two others were suspended for infractions, records show Two of the since-fired Memphis police officers charged with murdering Tyre Nichols failed to document their use of force in prior cases, and a pair of others were suspended from the department for other infractions, according to personnel records released on Tuesday evening.Two of the officers charged in connection with Nichols’s beating death received written reprimands in 2021 for failing to fill out a department-required form after an instance in which force was needed to detain someone who was purportedly resisting arrest. Another officer had been twice suspended, once after a gun was discovered in the backseat of his squad car and another time for failing to submit paperwork. A fourth officer was suspended after being involved in a car accident in 2021 in an unmarked police vehicle.‘He was robbed of his life’: in Memphis, tributes to Tyre Nichols – and a call to actionRead moreThe records offer new insight into the five officers who are suspected of murdering Nichols and had been part of the police department’s Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods – or Scorpion – unit, described as an elite group in the agency that was supposed to crack down on violent criminals.Local criminal justice experts said the records alluded to wider allegations of routine overuse of force and highlighted how the department prioritized disciplinary matters.“The files look pretty routine and indicate a department that’s more concerned with the police officers damaging their car than using excessive force,” Memphis criminal defense attorney Claiborne Ferguson remarked. “And the incidents of excessive force are exactly what our clients tell us about [concerning] their interaction with the Memphis police department.”All of the officers – Desmond Mills, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Justin Smith, and Tadarrius Bean – were fired last month, and Scorpion has been disbanded. Two additional police officers have been put on desk duty indefinitely, and three fire department members who were accused of failing to medically evaluate Nichols properly after the fatal beating have been fired.Mills drew the department’s attention after an evening in March 2019 during which he went to help two officers who were trying to arrest a woman who had a damaged car and was suspected of drunk-driving.Officers said the woman resisted arrest, and one of them struck her with a baton. Mills grabbed the woman’s arms, took her to the ground, and handcuffed her. The woman received bruises and facial abrasions during the encounter, records show.The case should have prompted Mills to fill out a department-required form documenting his use of force. Even though Mills was aware of that requirement, he failed to fill out the form, later telling investigators he did not think it applied in that specific instance. More than two years later, in August of 2021, the department handed him a written reprimand.Haley was involved in a similar case in February 2021. One evening, he was helping other officers investigate a report of shots fired at a Walgreens. One of the other officers saw two women laughing in a car parked nearby and decided to detain them. When police said one of the women resisted getting out of the car, Haley helped put handcuffs on her. The woman, who was arrested for disorderly conduct, said her shoulder was dislocated in the process.After the encounter, Haley should have filled out the form documenting his use of force but failed to do so. He later told investigators he was “mistaken as to the use of force necessary” to require him to fill out the form. A lieutenant who was also present at the hearing told investigators Haley was “a hard working officer who routinely makes good decisions” and “he was sure this was a limited event”. The lieutenant also was issued a written reprimand.Additionally, the records reveal that Martin, who joined the police force in March 2018, was suspended on two occasions. Martin – who moved to the Scorpion unit full-time on 16 November 2022 – was first suspended without pay in 2019 for three days after a loaded revolver was found wedged in the back of his patrol car at the end of a shift.Tyre Nichols death: white officer’s belated suspension raises questionsRead moreThe files show that the gun was eventually found by another officer and that Martin and his patrol partner had been involved in two arrests during their shift. The suspects, therefore, could have used the weapon to harm the officers without them ever realizing it was in the car.Martin later confessed that he had not performed adequate inspections of the vehicle before and after his shift. The officer was warned “this violation could have risen to the level of neglect of duty” but was charged with a lesser offense nonetheless.Martin was suspended again in February 2021, following a September 2020 case in which he failed to submit a report over a domestic disturbance complaint and therefore breached department protocol.The records show that Martin’s superiors spoke in his defense at a disciplinary hearing, describing Martin and his partner as “two of the … top producers” on their shift. Martin was still disciplined and received a one-day suspension without pay.The officer’s file also shows that Martin – who was this week accused of a separate instance of brutality for allegedly threatening to shoot two Memphis residents in the face during an arrest – received high marks in his most recent annual performance review. The department described Martin as exceeding expectations in a section on “dealing with the public”.“He is continually a top leader in arrest and calls, and not one person he has arrested has complained,” the report notes.The records furthermore show that Smith, who joined the department in 2018 and moved to the Scorpion unit in October 2020, was also suspended for two days over a January 2021 case. The officer acknowledged his role in a car crash while driving an unmarked police vehicle with “excessive speed”.A hearing summary noted that Smith “advise [sic] his memory is somewhat unclear due to his minor head injury caused by the deployment of the airbag”.Bean, who joined the police department in 2020 and moved to the Scorpion unit in August 2022, is the only one of the five officers charged in relation to Nichols’s death not to have received any previous departmental discipline.Nichols’s death three days after officers beat him on 7 January has reignited nationwide calls for reforms to American law enforcement less than three years after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd. Among other things, there have been calls for the creation of national standards that would aim to increase police accountability while stripping away qualified immunity shielding officers from civil liability for misconduct.TopicsTyre NicholsMemphisUS politicsUS policingnewsReuse this content More
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Tyre Nichols funeral: Kamala Harris condemns ‘violent act not in pursuit of public safety’ – latest
“We are here to celebrate the life of Tyre Nichols … Mrs Wells, Mr Wells, you have been extraordinary in terms of your strength, your courage and your grace,” Harris said to Tyre Nichols’ parents in an address at the funeral..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“We mourn with you and the people of our country mourn with you. We have a mother and a father who mourned the life of a young man who should be here today. They have a grandson who now does not have a father…
When we look at this situation, this is a family that lost their son and their brother through an act of violence at the hands and feet of people who had been charged with keeping them safe…
“This violent act was not in pursuit of public safety… When we talk about public safety, let us understand what it means in its truest form. Tyre Nichols should have been safe…
We demand Congress pass the George Floyd Policing Act … Joe Biden will sign it … It is non-negotiable,” she added.“There is no substitute for federal legislation,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said as she told reporters on Thursday that president Joe Biden will continue urging Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would combat police brutality, racial profiling and excessive force by police officers.At White House briefing. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: The president told Tyre Nichols’ family he would keep pushing Congress to send the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to his desk. “There is no substitute for federal legislation.” pic.twitter.com/lfiWG4kvQW— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) February 1, 2023
The funeral service of Tyre Nichols has concluded with Nichols’ family exiting the ceremony first while other attendees stood and waited for their turn.Flower arrangements were also removed.Singers sang the 1964 song A Change Is Gonna Come by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, as well the 2009 song Oh How Precious by American gospel musician Kathy Taylor.“Tyre was a beautiful person and for this to happen to him is just unimaginable,” said Tyre Nichols mother RowVaughn Wells as she wept at the podium while delivering her address..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“The only thing that’s keeping me going is the fact that I really truly believe my son was sent here on an assignment from God and I guess now his assignment is done. He’s been taken home…”
“I want to thank all the community activists for being there for my family…the chief of police for acting swiftly, the district attorney, the state of Tennessee…I want to thank my lawyers…
I just need…that George Floyd bill…passed. We need to take some action because there should be no other child that should suffer the way and all the other parents here that lost their children. We need to get that bill passed because if we don’t, the next child that dies, their blood is going to be on their hands.”Nichols’ stepfather Rodney Wells similarly called for justice for Tyre Nichols, saying, “We have to fight for justice. We cannot continue to let these people brutalize our kids…”.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“What’s done in a dark will always come to the light, and the light of day is justice for Tyre, justice for all the families that have lost loved ones to brutality of police or anybody,” he added.One of Tyre Nichols’ sisters recited a poem she wrote at the funeral service called “I’m Just Trying To Go Home.”“I’m just trying to go home.Is that too much to ask?I didn’t break any laws along this path.I’ve skated across barriers designed to hold me back.I’m just trying to go home where the love is loud and the smiles are warm like the sunsets that comfort me in the coldest of my storms.I’m just trying to go home.I hear the sirens,I hear the flashing lights.The directions are clear.Black skin go left, blue skin go right.I’m just trying to go home.Don’t I deserve to feel safe?Batons, badges, blue lights against my face.I’m just trying to go home.Does anyone hear the pain in my cry, the struggle in my breath?God replied, ‘Come home my son, now you can rest.’”Attorney Ben Crump said that Texas Democratic congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has pledged to introduce a Tyre Nichols clause to the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act that seeks to combat police brutality and racial bias in policing.Tyre Nichols and Breonna Taylor were born on the same day and the same year – June 5, 1993 – civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in his address.Crump asked the crowd of attendees to acknowledge Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor who was killed on March 13, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky by police during a botched raid.“I want to acknowledge Tamika Palmer… I know you said it brought back so many memories and pain so if you would stand up so let us at least acknowledge Breonna Taylor’s mother,” Crump said as the crowd clapped and stood up.Civil rights attorney Ben Crump calls for “equal justice” in his address at Tyre Nichols’ funeral..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“It really is a plea for justice…it is a plea for Tyre Nichols the son…for Tyre Nichols the brother…for Tyre Nichols the father but most of all, it is a plea for justice for Tyre Nichols the human being,” Crump said.
“Why couldn’t they see the humanity in Tyre?” Crump said of the five Memphis police officers who beat Nichols to death.
“We have to make sure they see us as human beings and once we acknowledge that we are human beings worthy of respect and justice, then we have have the God given right to say ‘I am a human being and I deserve justice not just any justice but equal justice.’”“All he wanted to do was get home,” Reverend Al Sharpton said of Tyre Nichols..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Home is not just a physical location. Home is where you are at peace. Home is where you’re not vulnerable. Home is where everything is alright…
“He said, all I want to do is get home. I come to Memphis to say the reason I keep going is, all I’m trying to do is get home… I want to get where they can’t treat me with a double standard — I’m trying to get home. I want to get where they can’t call me names no more — I want to get home. I want to get where they can’t shoot and ask questions later — I’m trying to get home. Every black in America stands up every day trying to get home.”“You don’t fight crime by becoming criminals yourself,” Reverend Al Sharpton said of the five Black police officers who beat Tyre Nichols to death..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Why do they go ahead? Because they feel that there is no accountability. They feel that we are going to angry a day or to and then we’re going to go onto something else. But some of us do this everyday. Some of us believe…the dream has to come true. Some of us are going to fight…
I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but we won’t stop until we hold you accountable,” Sharpton said as he called for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to be passed.
“We’re not asking for anything special… we’re asking to be treated equal. And to be treated fair.”“In the city where they slayed the dreamer… what has happened to the dream?” Reverend Al Sharpton said, referring to Martin Luther King Jr who famously delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech. “What is happening to the dream in the city where the dreamer laid down and shed his blood?” Sharpton said.“The reason…[why] what happened to Tyre is so personal to me, it was that five Black men that wouldn’t have had a job in the police department, would not ever be thought of to be in elite squad…in the city that Dr. King lost his life…you beat a brother to death,” said Reverend Al Sharpton who visited the Lorraine Hotel earlier this morning where Martin Luther King Jr. was killed 55 years ago..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“There’s nothing more insulting and offensive to those of us that fight to open doors that you walked through those doors and act like the folks we had to fight for to get you through them doors. You didn’t get on the Police Department by yourself. The police chief didn’t get there by herself. People had to march and go to jail, and some lost their lives to open the doors for you. And how dare you act like that sacrifice was for nothing,” Sharpton said.“We are here to celebrate the life of Tyre Nichols … Mrs Wells, Mr Wells, you have been extraordinary in terms of your strength, your courage and your grace,” Harris said to Tyre Nichols’ parents in an address at the funeral..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“We mourn with you and the people of our country mourn with you. We have a mother and a father who mourned the life of a young man who should be here today. They have a grandson who now does not have a father…
When we look at this situation, this is a family that lost their son and their brother through an act of violence at the hands and feet of people who had been charged with keeping them safe…
“This violent act was not in pursuit of public safety… When we talk about public safety, let us understand what it means in its truest form. Tyre Nichols should have been safe…
We demand Congress pass the George Floyd Policing Act … Joe Biden will sign it … It is non-negotiable,” she added.Reverend Al Sharpton has called on vice president Kamala Harris to share a few words at the funeral.Reverend Al Sharpton has opened up his address by recognizing the families at the funeral who have lost their children to police brutality, including those of Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.Vice president Kamala Harris is seen greeting and joining the family of Tyre Nichols at the funeral.@VP Kamala Harris joins the parents of Tyre Nichols here at the funeral in Memphis. #TyreNichols pic.twitter.com/SjQMAAdXnx— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) February 1, 2023 More - in US Politics
Sixth Memphis police officer removed from duty after Tyre Nichols death
Sixth Memphis police officer removed from duty after Tyre Nichols deathBlack lawmakers call for meeting with president to discuss police reform as investigation into Nichols’s death continues A sixth officer involved in the death of Tyre Nichols has been removed from duty, police said, as an influential group of Black elected officials has called for a meeting with Joe Biden to discuss police reform.Officer Preston Hemphill was relieved of duty and put on what is known as administrative leave, Memphis police maj Karen Rudolph said on Monday, according to multiple reports.Rudolph stopped short of saying what role Hemphill had at the scene of Nichols’s deadly beating or whether he would be charged with a crime in connection with the killing as several other officers have been. But Rudolph said that the investigation into Nichols’s death remained ongoing, and “more information will be shared as it develops”.Hemphill’s removal comes as calls for changes to American policing intensify after officers’ deadly beating of Nichols.‘We’re not done’: end of Scorpion unit after Tyre Nichols death is first step, protesters sayRead moreThe chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Steven Horsford, said the group of 60 members of Congress had asked to meet with the president this week to “push for negotiations on much-needed national reforms to our justice system – specifically, the actions and conduct of our law enforcement”.The appeal to Biden, who has called for Congress to pass police reforms, came as protests prompted by Nichols’s killing continued in Memphis over the weekend.Nichols, a Black man, died on 10 January, three days after Memphis police officers beat him after a traffic stop. Nichols’s parents, who have been invited to attend Biden’s State of the Union speech on 7 February, said the 29-year-old was driving home after photographing the sunset.Video footage released by Memphis officials last week showed officers kicking and punching Nichols and hitting him with a police baton.Five Memphis officers were fired after the attack and have since been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.“No one in our nation should fear interacting with the police officers who serve our diverse communities, large and small,” Horsford, a Democratic congressman from Nevada, said. “We all want to be safe.“Many Black and brown people, however, and many young people in general, are justifiably afraid to interact with law enforcement officials.”Horsford continued: “We are calling on our colleagues in the House and Senate to jumpstart negotiations now and work with us to address the public health epidemic of police violence that disproportionately affects many of our communities.“The brutal beating of Tyre Nichols was murder and is a grim reminder that we still have a long way to go in solving systemic police violence in America.”The Senate judiciary committee’s chairperson, Dick Durbin, said on Sunday that Congress can pass additional policing measures like “screening, training, accreditation, to up the game so that the people who have this responsibility to keep us safe really are stable and approaching this in a professional manner”.Law enforcement primarily falls under the jurisdiction of states, rather than the federal government. But Durbin said that should not “absolve” Congress from acting.“What we saw on the streets of Memphis was just inhumane and horrible,” he said. “I don’t know what created this – this rage in these police officers that they would congratulate themselves for beating a man to death. But that is literally what happened.”Also on Sunday, the civil rights attorney representing the Nichols family, Benjamin Crump, called for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.The bill, drafted after a Minneapolis police officer murdered Floyd in May 2020, would ban chokeholds, create national standards for policing ostensibly to increase accountability, and reform qualified immunity, which shields police officers from civil liability for misconduct.The legislation passed the US House – then controlled by Democrats – in March 2021 but stalled in the Senate. With the House now under Republican control, it remains to be seen whether progress can be made on the bill.Crump told CNN there could be further criminal charges brought against Memphis police while Steve Mulroy, the prosecutor handling the case, said in an interview with the news channel that “nothing we did last Thursday [when the five officers were charged] regarding indictments precludes us from bringing other charges later”.“We are going to need time to allow the investigation to go forward and further consideration of charges,” Mulroy said.The Memphis police department on Saturday announced it would disband its “Scorpion” unit, which was tasked with proactively taking on street crime. The five officers charged over Nichols’s death were all part of the unit.Later that night protesters gathered outside Memphis city hall to mark the victory but said it was just the first step.Local community organizer LJ Abraham told the Guardian that organizers are still demanding that Memphis police dismantle other task forces they run – such as the multi-agency gang unit – and transparency in releasing body-camera footage.She showed the Guardian video from 2020 from a woman showing multiple Memphis police kneeling on her husband’s back while they tried to handcuff him, reportedly on his property.“Right now, when somebody is shot by police, we can’t see that video,” Abraham said, adding that four people had been killed by Memphis police since November. “The only reason we got to see Tyre’s footage was because of the manner in which he died.”A New York Times analysis found that police had given Nichols dozens of “contradictory and unachievable orders” during the traffic stop and subsequent beating. In the 13 minutes between officers stopping Nichols and taking him into custody, police shouted at least 71 commands, the Times reported.“Officers commanded Mr Nichols to show his hands even as they were holding his hands,” the Times found. “They told him to get on the ground even when he was on the ground. And they ordered him to reposition himself even when they had control of his body.”TopicsTyre NicholsMemphisUS policingUS politicsJoe BidennewsReuse this content More
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‘We’re not done’: end of Scorpion unit after Tyre Nichols death is first step, protesters say
‘We’re not done’: end of Scorpion unit after Tyre Nichols death is first step, protesters sayCall for release of information on all officers and an end to pre-textual traffic stops, such as pulling people over for loud music Along Main Street, just outside Memphis City Hall, a swarm of white and Black protesters and organizers gathered under the sprinkling rain to mark a significant victory: the city police department had just announced they would permanently disband the so-called Scorpion unit whose officers were involved in the beating death of Tyre Nichols.Memphis police disband unit whose officers fatally beat Tyre NicholsRead moreStill, they argued, that was just the first step in getting justice for Nichols, whose shocking death has stunned and angered much of America and reopened a debate over racism and police brutality. “We’re not done,” one organizer said through a megaphone. “We’ve got a long way to go.”They called for the release of information on all officers and personnel involved in Nichols’s death on top of the murder charges laid against the five Black officers who attacked the 29-year-old. They also demanded an end to pre-textual traffic stops, such as pulling people over for broken tail lights and loud music, and the dissolution of other units and task forces the Memphis police department operates.Before the announcement of the Scorpions disbandment, demonstrators had marched past a fire station and Memphis police headquarters and chanted “Justice for Tyre”. The protest had come just a day after the city released video footage of the brutal mass beating that had led to Nichols’s death. At one point, protesters surrounded police vehicles that had blocked off the streets.Once the group made a loop around the area and returned to City Hall, Amber Sherman, an organizer, recounted part of the statement released by Memphis police and added: “If we can do one, we can do them all!”Ending the unit, one of several police task forces in Memphis dispatched to neighborhoods to suppress crime, had been one of several demands protesters and Nichols’s family made in the aftermath of the Nichols’s death. In a statement, the family’s attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci said that the unit’s dissolution marked an “appropriate and proportional” response to Nichols’s death and a “decent and just decision” to Memphis residents.“We hope that other cities take similar action with their saturation police units in the near future to begin to create greater trust in their communities,” they said. “We must keep in mind that this is just the next step on this journey for justice and accountability, as clearly this misconduct is not restricted to these specialty units. It extends so much further.”Martavius Jones, chair of the Memphis city council, told the crowd that it was now on city officials to take further action to reform the police department. “Hold us accountable,” he told the crowd. LJ Abraham, a local community organizer, and others looked over to Jones and reiterated they would.Jones, who grew up in Memphis and has been on the city council since 2015, told the Guardian that he gave credit to the police chief and Shelby county district attorney for respectively firing and charging five officers but would listen to residents for guidance.“We’re the body that can put forth reforms that can address this, and do our best to try to prevent this from happening again,” Jones told the Guardian.JB Smiley, vice chair of the Memphis city council, called for charges against “each and every officer” involved in Tyre Nichols’s death and urged citizens to “pull up” to upcoming city council meetings to make their voices heard.Smiley said in a statement that one police officer who “tased Tyre Nichols and who compelled the other officers to stomp him” to be fired, echoing what other organizers have expressed. He plans on introducing amendments to city ordinances that would bolster transparency by making Memphis police report traffic stops and track use of force complains and other misconduct.“We don’t stand for police brutality in the city of Memphis,” Smiley said. “This will never happen again in any other city because we will set the standard people will take suit and will be served and policy is implemented across this nation.Abraham, who says she has lived in Memphis since she was 12, told the Guardian that organizers are still demanding that Memphis police dismantle other task forces they run such as the multi-agency gang unit and transparency in releasing body camera footage. She showed the Guardian video from 2020 from a woman showing multiple Memphis police kneeling on her husband’s back while they tried to handcuff him, reportedly on his property.“Right now, when somebody is shot by police, we can’t see that video,” Abraham said, adding that four people had been killed by Memphis police since November. “The only reason we got to see Tyre’s footage was because of the manner in which he died.”Abraham recalled a moment outside a cocktail bar when she interacted with police after a patron made a “racist comment” toward her brother. During that interaction a year ago, Abraham says she was “aggressively attacked and thrown into a police car”.“For me it shines an additional layer into how aggressive the Memphis police department feels they need to be when there’s no need for aggression. In these traffic stops, people are fearful that either they are getting the shit beat out of them or they’re going to die,” Abraham said. “That shouldn’t be an expectation from people whose salaries we pay who are hired to protect and serve…It should never constitute someone getting murdered by the police.”“We’re not stopping until our demands are met,” she added. “This will keep going.”TopicsTyre NicholsUS policingUS politicsMemphisTennesseenewsReuse this content More
- in US Politics
Tyre Nichols: what we know about his death after Memphis police encounter
ExplainerTyre Nichols: what we know about his death after Memphis police encounterCity on edge as police department is poised to release video of the deadly encounter after a traffic stop Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, died on 10 January, several days after an encounter with Memphis, Tennessee, police officers during a traffic stop near his mother’s house.Tyre Nichols’s death after police encounter was ‘failing of basic humanity’, says Memphis chief Read moreAccording to Nichols’s family and their attorneys, an independent autopsy revealed he had “suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating”. The Memphis police department is investigating the deadly encounter, as are state and federal authorities.Meanwhile, Memphis remains on edge as the police department is poised to release video of the deadly encounter. The video is expected to provide additional details about the events leading to Nichols’s death, as authorities have yet to provide many thus far.Here is what is known about Nichols’s death.Who was Tyre Nichols?Nichols worked the second shift at FedEx, the parcel shipping company. He would return to his mother’s house about 7pm every night for his meal break, his family reportedly said.The father of a four-year-old boy, Nichols enjoyed photographing sunsets and skateboarding. His mother, RowVaughn Wells, said he had a tattoo of her name on his arm.“That made me proud,” she told the New York Times. “Most kids don’t put their mom’s name. My son was a beautiful soul.”What happened during the traffic stop?Police pulled Nichols over on 7 January for alleged reckless driving, his family’s attorneys said on Monday. The police department initially claimed that a “confrontation” unfolded when officers approached the vehicle, adding that he ran away, then when they arrested him there was another “confrontation”.The encounter resulted in Nichols being “bloody, swollen and unconscious” until his death several days later. Authorities have provided few other details about the incident.What does the video show?While the public has yet to see the footage, Nichols’s family members and their attorneys have seen a recording that they say shows a three-minute beating. Antonio Romanucci, one of their lawyers, said police pepper-sprayed Nichols, deployed a stun gun against him and then restrained him.“He was a human piñata for those police officers,” Romanucci told reporters. “Not only was it violent, it was savage.” The family’s legal team said that during the encounter, Nichols said he simply wanted to go home.The video showed that Nichols “called repeatedly for his mother” during the beating, which unfolded some 100 yards from her home, according to statements they gave to media.When will the video be released?The Shelby county district attorney’s office said on 23 January that they expect the video to be released this week or next. The chief of Memphis police said the video will be released “in the coming days”.Who are the officers involved?Five officers – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr and Justin Smith – were involved in the arrest, according to the Memphis police department.The officers, who are all Black, were fired last week, it said.Following an investigation, the department alleged that they violated “multiple department policies, including excessive use of force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid”. Other officers are currently being investigated for potential policy violations.Two Memphis fire department members who were involved in Nichols’s initial care have also been “relieved of duty” while an internal investigation is ongoing, officials said.What have police officials said?The Memphis police chief, CJ Davis, decried the fatal incident, calling it “heinous, reckless, and inhumane”.“Aside from being your chief of police, I am a citizen of this community, we share; I am a mother, I am a caring human being who wants the best for all of us; this is not just a professional failing,” Davis said in a video statement posted to YouTube.“This is a failing of basic humanity toward another individual … and in the vein of transparency when the video is released in the coming days, you will see this for yourselves.”TopicsMemphisUS policingUS politicsnewsReuse this content More
