United States: the death of Tire Nichols revives the debate on police violence

A protester on January 28, 2023, in Memphis, Tennessee, after the death of Tire Nichols.

AP - Gerald Herbert

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In the United States, the broadcast of images of the fatal arrest at Tire Nichols has put the subject of police violence back in the spotlight since the end of last week.

Calls for police reform are increasing, but there is no consensus on the issue.

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 We need a law to combat bad behavior in the police.

This is the plea, the appeal launched by the lawyer for the family of Tire Nichols.

For Ben Crump, the tragedy must make it possible to pass the so-called "George Floyd" law, named after this black American man suffocated to death by police during his violent arrest in Minneapolis in May 2020.

The text proposed by the Democratic Party should, among other things, facilitate legal proceedings against law enforcement officers accused of violence.

But the lack of agreement on the subject with the Republican Party buried the bill two years ago.

The Memphis tragedy has therefore made it possible to reopen this debate.

►Read again: United States: Memphis police dismantle the unit involved in the death of Tire Nichols

In the House of Representatives, the Republican head of the Justice Committee said he was open to better monitoring of police officers dismissed for violence.

Objective: to prevent them from being re-recruited.

But the elected also believes that a law can never prevent outbursts of violence like that observed during the arrest of Tire Nichols.

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