The fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by officers during a traffic stop in January 2023 exposed serious problems in the Memphis Police Department, from the use of excessive force to its mistreatment of Black people in the majority-Black city, a federal investigation has found, the Associated Press reports. A report released Wednesday revealed the findings of a 17-month Department of Justice investigation into Memphis police that began after Nichols was kicked, punched and hit with a police baton. Members of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division plan to discuss the report during a Thursday morning news conference, followed by a rebuttal by the city of Memphis with its 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 police in Memphis. The Memphis Police Department is more than 50% Black, and police chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis is also Black.
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 results of the investigation. The report said police officers would punch, kick and use other force against people who were already handcuffed or restrained, acts that the investigation described as unconstitutional but which were nearly always approved after the fact by supervisors. The investigation found that 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. Memphis police officers regularly violate the rights of the people they are sworn to serve,” said the report, which adds that “Black people in Memphis disproportionately experience these violations.“
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