Share and Follow
Tyre Nichols’ brother told a California television station that he wishes death upon the five Memphis police officers accused of beating his brother to death.
Jamal Dupre told Fox’s Sacramento affiliate, ‘You want my truth? … I hope they die.’ Nichols was a former resident of Sacramento, his brother and sister still live in the city.
The interview came prior to the release of the shocking footage showing the arrest and assault of Nichols following a traffic stop on January 10. He succumbed to his injuries three days later. Nichols was 29 years old.
During his interview, Dupree said, ‘It doesn’t really mean nothing at this time until they’re actually found guilty for the actual charges. There’s a good chance they can walk free from this.’
He added, ‘My brother’s last words were screaming for my mom, and they didn’t care.’ In the released video, Nichols could be heard calling for his mother.
Jamal Dupree, Tyre Nichols’ brother, said that he hoped for death for the cops involved in his brother’s case
The interview came prior to the release of the shocking footage showing the arrest and assault of Nichols following a traffic stop on January 10
The five officers involved in the case, Justin Smith, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmit Martin III, Demetrius Haley and Tadarrius Bean, have all since been fired from the force. On Thursday, they were indicted by a grand jury and are currently in custody.
In a separate interview with KCRA, Dupree said that his stepfather explained to him what could be seen in the video after it was shown privately to the family in Memphis.
He said, ‘The thing that bothers me the most [is that], out of all five officers, nobody decided to say, ‘”Hey, this is not cool. Let’s back up here.'”
Dupree told the station, ‘Hopefully, they get charged. Murder one. That’s what my family wants so that my brother can actually rest in peace.’
While Nichols’ sister, Keyana Dixon, said in the same interview, ‘For this to happen to him, in this way. The pain is just … I have no words.’
Tyre Nichols, 29, was brutally beaten like a ‘human piñata’ by five Memphis, Tennessee, police officers , who were all African American, on January 7 and died three days later in the hospital from kidney failure and cardiac arrest
Jamal Dupree speaks as family members and activists held a rally for Tyre Nichols at the National Civil Rights Museum on January 16 in Memphis
Tyre Nichols’ stepfather Rodney Wells (above) has called for criminal charges against the paramedics who appeared to fail to render aid after he was savagely beaten by police
Following the video’s release, Nichols’ stepfather, Rodney Wells, called for criminal charges against the paramedics who appeared to stand by while the beating occurred.
‘Everyone — the fire department, paramedics that came out that stood around and didn’t do anything — they’re just as guilty,’ Nichols’ stepfather Rodney Wells told ABC News.
‘Everyone that was active in the whole scene, the whole video, should be charged,’ he added. Five Memphis cops have already been charged with second-degree murder.
Paramedics arrived on the scene about five minutes after the assault on Nichols concluded, at which point he was handcuffed and slumped against the side of a car.
The video shows a paramedic leaning over Nichols asking: ‘What’d you have? We’re trying to get you straight, what’d you have?’
Nichols is heard making a gurgling noise, but appears unable to speak, although he had been heard speaking clearly and relatively calmly before the assault.
Officers at the scene were heard remarking that Nichols was ‘on something’ and ‘high as a kite’ as they wisecracked after the assault.
Cops may have advised the paramedics that Nichols was on drugs, though no evidence that he was has emerged in the weeks following the assault.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. of Shelby County, which includes Memphis, said that after viewing the video, he is suspending two deputies who responded to the scene following the beating, which began with a traffic stop.
Bonner said he had launched an internal investigation into the two deputies, adding that they had been relieved of duty pending the outcome of the probe.
A lawyer for Nichols’ family earlier likened it to the notorious footage of Los Angeles police officers beating black motorist Rodney King more than 30 years ago.
The five officers, who are all black, were each charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.
They range in age from 24 to 32 and each served on the department for about 2 1/2 to five years.
Charged with second degree murder are (top, left to right) Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, and (bottom, left to right) Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith
The police officers involved in the assault were taken into custody on Thursday
Protesters gathered for mostly peaceful demonstrations in multiple cities, including Memphis, where several dozen demonstrators blocked the Interstate 55 bridge that carries traffic over the Mississippi River toward Arkansas.
Semitrucks were backed up for a distance. In Washington, dozens of protestors gathered in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House and near Black Lives Matter Plaza.
Other cities nationwide braced for demonstrations, but media outlets reported only scattered and nonviolent protests.
Demonstrators at times blocked traffic while they chanted slogans and marched through the streets of New York City, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon.
Nichols’ relatives urged supporters to protest peacefully.
‘I don’t want us burning up our city, tearing up the streets, because that’s not what my son stood for,’ Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, said Thursday. ‘If you guys are here for me and Tyre, then you will protest peacefully.’
Protesters gathered for mostly peaceful demonstrations in multiple cities, including Memphis, following the release of the video
Christopher Taylor was one of the protesters at the Interstate 55 bridge on Friday. He said he watched the video. The Memphis native said it was horrible that the officers appeared to be laughing as they stood around after the beating.
‘I cried,’ he said. ‘And that right there, as not only a father myself but I am also a son, my mother is still living, that could have been me.’
Speaking at the White House, President Joe Biden said Friday that he was ‘very concerned’ about the prospect of violence and called for protests to remain peaceful.
Biden said he spoke with Nichols’ mother earlier in the day and told her that he was going to be ‘making a case’ to Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act ‘to get this under control.’
The legislation, which has been stalled, is meant to tackle police misconduct and excessive force and boost federal and state accountability efforts.
