We go to Memphis for an update after jurors acquitted three former Memphis police officers of the murder of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black father who died after the officers brutally beat him during a traffic stop in January 2023. The group beating was caught on video, provoking widespread outrage and calls for police reform. The three officers still face sentencing after they were convicted of separate federal charges, along with two other officers who pleaded guilty to the state charges and will not stand trial. “A lot of us were shocked,” says Amber Sherman, of the Memphis community’s response. Sherman, a community organizer and member of Black Lives Matter Memphis, joined the family Thursday at a community vigil and protest. She warns this latest acquittal will “embolden” Memphis police as they continue to “do whatever they want.”
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
We end today’s show in Memphis, Tennessee, where the family of Tyre Nichols joined supporters to protest and grieve Thursday, after jurors Wednesday unanimously acquitted three former Memphis police officers of the murder of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black father who died after the officers brutally beat him during a traffic stop that was caught on video.
For more, we go to Memphis. We’re joined by Amber Sherman, community organizer, member of the official Black Lives Matter Memphis chapter and host of the podcastThe Law According to Amber.
Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Amber. You were out there with the family yesterday as people held a memorial vigil and protest. Can you respond to the jury’s acquittal of the three officers? Not to say they won’t serve time in jail, because they were also federal charges that they faced, along with other officers.
AMBER SHERMAN: Yeah. Thank you for having me. I think that a lot of us were shocked. I thought they would at least be found guilty on a few charges, but, boy, did they prove me wrong. I was like, “OK, never mind then.” But I do feel like them being found guilty [sic] on all of the charges really does embolden the Memphis Police Department —
AMY GOODMAN: Acquitted of all the charges.
AMBER SHERMAN: — to feel like now they don’t even have to take their —
AMY GOODMAN: Acquitted of all the charges.
AMBER SHERMAN: Yeah, acquitted. Yeah. Really emboldens them to just feel like they can do whatever they want. And they can really just leave their body cameras on. It doesn’t even matter, because if you see it on camera, they’re still going to find you not guilty of the charges, and you’ll be acquitted.
AMY GOODMAN: And can you remind our audience what happened to Tyre when he was just stopped for a traffic stop?
AMBER SHERMAN: Yes. Tyre was stopped by the Scorpion Unit, which is a type of task force here in Memphis. The task force has since been disbanded, but there are similar task forces that exist still, so they’re still doing these types of stops, where they are targeting people in certain types of cars, in certain neighborhoods — specifically, Black neighborhoods, because they said that they want to target high-crime areas. But the area that he was in had only had one homicide in the entire year before. So, to me, it looks like they’re targeting Black people and Black neighborhoods.
And he was stopped by an officer. He was immediately yanked out of his car and yelled at. He was asking them, why are they were stopping him. They don’t tell him anything. They started hitting him. Their body cameras were still on at that point. And then, at some point, he is able to escape them from beating him and runs down the street towards his house. And then they find him on a corner at Castlegate and Ross, which is in Memphis, in East Memphis, and there’s a Skycam above him, which are these cameras that the police department used to surveil our neighborhoods, actually.
But this Skycam actually had AI technology that helped the camera to move around, so it actually moves as they’re beating him. And you can see from multiple angles that multiple officers are kicking him in the head, are hitting him in the body. They try to spray him with pepper spray but sprayed themselves, so then they get even more angrier and continue to hit him. And he is, at one point, just lifeless, laying there, just being hit. And they’re using all the excuses in the world about how, you know, this is their training, and he was resisting. But you can clearly see on video that he’s not.
AMY GOODMAN: I just want to say that the former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — were found not guilty of murder in the state trial, but in a separate federal case, they were found guilty of witness tampering and await sentencing for that conviction. And two others were also convicted on the federal charge and pleaded guilty to state charges, will avoid trial. But they are all possibly expected to serve time in prison. In this last minute that we have, Amber, the response of the family, what they’re calling for at this point?
AMBER SHERMAN: Well I just want to also add that Demetrius Haley was found guilty of excessive force, deliberate interference for medical intervention, and witness tampering — not just witness tampering. And he’s facing up to life in federal prison.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Amber Sherman, I want to thank you so much for being with us, community organizer, member of the official Black Lives Matter Memphis chapter, host of the podcastThe Law According to Amber. We have 15 seconds. The message from his family?
AMBER SHERMAN: We want justice for Tyre. And that looks like abolishing the police.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you so much for being with us from Memphis, Tennessee — Memphis, Tennessee, where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated April 4th, 1968.