(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Illinois politicians and law enforcement leaders are sharing their outrage over newly released videos showing the police beating of Tyre Nichols before his death.
The videos show the Black 29-year-old being struck repeatedly for minutes by Black officers who pulled him over Jan. 7, ostensibly for a traffic violation. Nichols died three days later. Five officers have been charged with second-degree murder.
Calling it horrific, unconscionable and preventable, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, “Seeing a Black man murdered by the police will always spark feelings of outrage, pain, and despair."
She says she hopes people will channel that into working to hold officers to the highest standards.
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Police Supt. David Brown called the video extremely difficult to watch, while Gov. JB Pritzker said Nichols deserved to live.
Mayoral candidate and activist Ja’Mal Green tweeted Nichols should be alive but doesn’t look like Dylan Roof, Kyle Rittenhouse or George Zimmerman – a reference to other men who had encounters with police.
“White people can literally kill people & get taken to Burger King before going to jail. But black men are treated like dirt,” he tweeted.
Meantime, officials with Rainbow Push in Chicago called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate police leadership in Memphis.
Members of the civil rights organization have questions about systemic problems within the police department.
Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. is expected to speak at Nichols’ funeral on Wednesday.
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