the five police officers charged after the death of Tire Nichols plead not guilty

The facts had once again shocked public opinion and raised fears of a social conflagration across the Atlantic. In the United States, the five police officers charged with murder after the fatal beating of African-American Tire Nichols in January pleaded not guilty on Friday February 17.

The officers, fired after the fact, appeared before a judge in Memphis, Tennessee. They were charged with murder, aggravated bodily harm, aggravated kidnapping, professional misconduct and abuse by a person in public authority. They are Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr, five agents who are also black.

A young black man beaten relentlessly

Tire Nichols, 29, was arrested Jan. 7 by Memphis Special Unit officers for a traffic violation, police said. Beaten relentlessly, so much so that he became unrecognizable according to his family, he died three days later in hospital. Images of the arrest were made public and broadcast on the biggest American channels, showing the extent of the ordeal of the young man.

The lawyer for Tyre Nicholas’ mother, Ben Crump, insisted on Friday strongly denying rumors pointing to a reason “personal” (a connection between the victim and one of the police officers) which would have caused the arrest. The unit to which the agents belonged “had a systematic tendency to do this to black people in Memphis. That’s all. No need to go any further”he insisted.