As there always are, there will be apologists who will try to explain away a murder. They didn’t mean to kill him, but only beat him to a pulp to show him who’s boss? He should complied harder and then they wouldn’t have killed him? Don’t lie to yourself.
Tyre Nichols ran because his options were try to survive or die. When that’s the only option given a person, he has every right to try to survive. No one is going to willingly sacrifice his life to you whatever sick compulsion you have to use your force for whatever twisted needs of power you suffer.
Many will go on about what was wrong here, and it was everything. From the needlessly violent initiation of the stop to the conflicting screaming to the escalation of force to the criminal beating. And all this in Memphis, where they’ve tried to change cop culture so that this doesn’t happen. Yet it did. And that some of these enforcers of the law stood by as their “brothers” murdered a human being and did nothing is the disgrace of the “good” cop who complains that he didn’t do the beating. But he didn’t stop the beating. Who else but a cop is supposed to protect Tyre Nichols from being murdered on the street?
This murder, this video of a murder, will send a new shock wave across the country that should strike fear in the heart of every cop. The next stop you make, this will be what the guy has in his head. He will be thinking that you’re going to kill him. He will be thinking that if he does nothing, if he complies, if he behaves the way you command him to behave, you’re going to kill him anyway.
What does he have to lose?
He doesn’t want to die any more than you do.
This isn’t his fault. This is the fault of five cops in Memphis. This is the fault of a thousand cops everywhere. This is the fault of ten thousand cops who let those cops inflict harm without doing anything to stop them, who lied to cover up their crime, Memphis gave its cops the training so many pretend will fix this problem, and it failed because no one can train someone not to be violent monster against their fellow human being. No one can train a cop to not stand there as they watch a fellow human being murdered before their eyes.
This is the fault of every cop who didn’t change the culture of fear and loathing of “mutts” and “skels” who are presumed to deserve a beating, for this or something else, because you know who the bad dudes are. This is the fault of every older cop who trains the n00bs how to survive on the street by beating or shooting “them” first so the First Rule of Policing prevails and they make it home for dinner, even if the “perp” goes home in a box.
Expect violence. Expect non-compliance. Expect someone to get hurt, and expect that’s going to be a cop when that guy you stopped believes he’s about to be murdered and he doesn’t plan to die that day. You brought this on yourself.
You could have changed this. You still can change this. You can tell the brass who the violent cops are who enjoy the beating too much. You can stop your “brothers” from committing crimes against their fellow citizens. You can take a breath when the guy pisses you off and act like a cop instead of a thug. You can approach your fellow citizens with the assumption of respect rather than fear or anger.
It will take time and there will be many in law enforcement who refuse to accept that they are the problem, their culture is the problem. They will make the usual excuses, tell themselves the usual lies, that no one understands their job, no one appreciates the risks they take, the pressure they’re under. There was no risk here. There was no pressure here. There was just a murder and there was no excuse, none, for Tyre Nichols to be beaten to death.
Remember, when the guy you stop believes he either fights back or dies like Tyre Nichols, cops brought this on themselves. You made this problem. Only you can fix it. If you can’t do it for the sake of honor, for the sake of your fellow human beings, then do it for yourself.
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