Sen. Akbari, Sen. Lamar issue statements following charges in the investigation of Tyre Nichols’ death
Senate Democratic leaders call for action to ‘uproot’ culture of police brutality
MEMPHIS — Senate Democratic leaders issued statements following charges against the police officers involved in the death of Tyre Nichols.
Sen. Raumesh Akbari, Senate Democratic Leader:
“While I applaud the swift action of the district attorney, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Memphis Police Department, there is no justice for Tyre Nichols today.
“Justice would be Tyre living to see his next birthday. Justice is people in this community having trust that our police officers will first police themselves. No one should fear for their life during a simple traffic stop or be afraid to even engage with our officers.
“So instead, today we begin the long act of healing our hurting community, Tyre’s mother and family, and ourselves.
“We cannot move forward together unless we are willing to do the work to hold our police department to the highest ethical standards and uproot any existence or acceptance of police brutality. This is our call to action and we must be vigilant.”
Sen. London Lamar, chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus:
“Like many of us, I feel traumatized by Tyre Nichols’ death and I am disturbed by the actions of the officers who were involved.
“While today we send our heartfelt condolences to the Nichols family, tomorrow we work toward achieving continuous accountability for law enforcement.
“This may be the most egregious act of police brutality in our nation’s history. It shows exactly how much work we have to do to build trust between our people and the officers who pledge to serve and protect our community.
“Accountability for the officers involved in Tyre’s death is the first step. The next step is for law enforcement, state and federal officials, and local leaders to investigate why this happened. We have to fix the root causes of police brutality and then do the work to make sure it never happens again.”
