MEMPHIS, Tenn. — For roughly two weeks, the country had been waiting for the identities of the officers involved in the traffic stop that left Tyre Nichols complaining of shortness of breath on Jan. 7, later resulting in his death.
The Memphis Police Department released the identities of five of the officers involved who were terminated on Jan. 20. Still, something stood out.
“The race of the individuals involved often connects it to broader histories of our country of oppression and discrimination,” said Daniel Kiel, Law Professor at the University of Memphis.
In past cases like the ones involving George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the offending officers were white, but these five officers were African American.
This posed the question, would this impact a potential civil rights case if racial discrimination was not apparent?
“We demand justice for Tyre Nichols’ family, and we say that justice has to be carried out despite the color of those who perpetrated the crime,” said Van Turner, Lawyer and President of the NAACP Memphis Branch, “Perhaps we don’t see any racial discrimination, we don’t see any discriminatory issue that we’ve seen in other cases, but this is still a civil rights issue because of excessive force.”
Turner said this abuse of power and discretion falls under United States Section Code 1983. The officers involved acted “under the color of law” and used excessive force on Nichols, beyond what the law allowed.
“As a law enforcement officer or as a government official, you’re given certain privileges, but if you exceed these privileges, you go outside of those privileges, then you are at fault and you are perhaps liable for the act that was conducted,” Turner said.
During the traffic stop, this excessive force violated the rights Nichols and other Americans are promised under the constitution.
“We have constitutional rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, we have a constitutional right to be free of cruel or unusual punishment,” Kiel said.
Several investigations are underway at state and federal levels, so it might be possible the officers involved may be tried in both civil rights and criminal cases.
“Those can happen simultaneously, one doesn’t have to stop because the other is going on,” Turner said.
One of the investigations is being conducted by Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy. Once finished, he will present his findings to a grand jury.
“A grand jury will have to put forth an indictment for murder one or for whatever charges they bring forward,” Turner said.
The officers would then be arraigned, brought to court, and then begin trial, however how long this will take is still unclear.
“A high profile case like this, a judge is going to try to be certain that they do everything procedurally correct in order to make sure they don’t have to do a second trial,” Kiel said.
In previous appearances, the family of Tyre Nichols has said they want the officers involved in the traffic stop to be tried for first degree murder. The family is currently being represented by the Ben Crump law firm.