BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) "The officers committed a murder. An innocent man was killed." Buffalo attorney John Elmore reacted to the fallout over the Tyre Nichols beating at the hands of police in Memphis.
Elmore, who is a former New York State Trooper, believes the five former police officers were properly charged with second degree murder. He hopes justice will be swift.
"It's a good thing that the police department was transparent with this," he said on WBEN Monday. "The district attorney prosecuted without delay. The video was obvious. But the main thing that comes to me is the way the officers did that with no remorse. They were relaxed. It shows a problem with the culture of policing in that police department in Memphis. That would never have happened if the culture was different," he said.
Elmore believes the culture begins at the top with the governor, the mayor and the police chief and it has to filter its way down.
"We can have all of the laws that we want, whether it's bail reform, criminal justice reform, but unless we change this culture, these officers have stained the badges of all police officers across the country. This really sets the clock back."
Body cameras have done a lot to change policing in America. In this case, however it was not enough to stop the officers in the Nichols case. But Elmore thinks the impact of cameras has made a big difference, overall.
"The body camera images were partially obscured. But the images from the street pole showed the whole picture. If only body camera video was available, the officers may not have been charged with murder," he said.
Still, he adds that police body cameras are a good thing. "A lot of police officers feel safer because they protect against false complaints. Also lawsuits against police departments have gone way down. A lot of behavior has improved because of body cameras." He considers body cams a huge advancement when it comes to police reform. But in this case, he said it wasn't enough to change the culture.