Five police officers have been charged and jailed Thursday for the death of a black man in Memphis, Tennessee, a few days after his "appalling" arrest, authorities said.
These officers, all African-American, were charged with
manslaughter, assault and battery, as well as kidnapping
, prosecutor Steve Mulroy announced during a press conference.
The president,
Joe Biden
, demanded in a statement on Thursday a "prompt, complete and transparent investigation" of the case.
On January 7, police officers wanted to arrest
Tire Nichols, a 29-year-old African-American
, for a traffic violation.
As the agents approached, a "confrontation took place" and "the suspect fled," the public force explained at the time.
Nichols was hit by officers, but complained of having difficulty breathing during the arrest and was hospitalized.
He died three days later.
The arrest video
The details of the arrest are still not entirely clear.
There are videos of the events
, but so far they have only been shown to those close to the victim and her lawyers.
According to them, "the police beat him to the point where he was not recognizable."
"It's a beating, pure and simple, without interruption, from this young man for three minutes
," said lawyer Antonio Romanucci.
Although the authorities have not described precisely the way in which the events were carried out, the director of investigation of Tennessee, David Rausch, affirmed that it
was "criminal" and "inadmissible"
.
"In a word, he's terrifying," he said.
Lawyers for the family, including the famous Ben Crump, welcomed the news.
"It gives us hope. In the meantime, we will continue to demand justice for Tyre," he commented.
The five accused officers were fired last week.
The police internal investigation showed that they used excessive force.
There are other police officers under investigation.
The accused officers are "directly responsible for the physical violence committed on Mr. Nichols," Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said Wednesday, estimating that it was not
"just a professional error, but a lack of humanity
."
"This act was hateful, irresponsible and inhumane."
"peaceful protests"
The video of the arrest should be published on Friday after 6:00 p.m. local time (00:00 GMT on Saturday).
"I think they're going to be shocked"
when they see the footage, Davis admitted.
In his statement,
Biden called for protests that can be unleashed to be "peaceful."
"Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable
," she added.
The matter finds a particular echo in a country still marked
by the death of George Floyd, in May 2020
during a police intervention, and the Black Lives Matter demonstrations, against racism and police violence.
"We cannot ignore the fact that deadly police interventions affected black people the most
," recalled the president, who has urged Congress to pass legislation to reform the police.
But the proposal, adopted in the House of Representatives in 2021, has not been approved by the Senate.
Since the death of George Floyd, the US Congress
has been unable to adopt ambitious police reform
, not even a ban on chokeholds.
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