Protests continue in CT in wake of Tyre Nichols video release
Protests continued in Connecticut Sunday after officials released footage showing five Memphis police officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols at a traffic stop.
About 30 people gathered inside Summerfield United Methodist Church in Bridgeport to discuss the incident.
“What we saw displayed on television the other day is not emblematic of good policing,” state Sen. Herron Gaston, D-Bridgeport, told the crowd. “It is bad policing.”
Gaston, who is also the senior pastor at the church, said these events are often described as an “isolated incident.”
“This is not a sporadic incident,” he said. “This is something that’s pervasive.”
Gaston also detailed his interactions with police.
“I’ve been pulled over at least six or seven times right here as I’m pulling into the driveway of the church,” he said, adding police were “very rude” a couple of weeks ago until he told them who he was.
“But you shouldn’t have to tell the police who you are in order for them to treat you with dignity and respect,” he said.
Gaston told the crowd he plans to submit a bill that would require police to tell the motorist why they’re being pulled over during a traffic stop so “that interaction is a positive interaction from the very beginning.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told the audience he would return to Congress with a call for justice.
“What I’m hearing from colleagues all around the country is that the nation’s conscience has been called,” he said. “There’s a new awareness about the need for justice, and the conscious of Congress has been called, how we need justice demanded by the nation, by the community, by his family and they need and deserve that justice.”
A protest is also planned in New Haven at Church and Chapel streets starting at 4:30 p.m., according to a
tweet from the Party for Socialism and Liberation Saturday.
Protesters rallied in Hartford and Manchester Saturday while state, municipal and police officials issued statements condemning the actions of the five officers, one of whom is from Connecticut.
Memphis police said officers stopped Nichols, 29, for recklessly driving on Jan. 7. On Friday, the city of Memphis released footage of the traffic stop, which later proved fatal, sparking outrage and demands for change across the country. Protests erupted in several major cities, including Memphis, Washington, D.C. and New York, and were mostly peaceful, according to NPR.
The videos showed officers pulling Nichols, a Black man, from his vehicle, then yelling and threatening him as he got on the ground. Nichols broke free at one point, after an officer threatened him with a Taser and another said he would break Nichols’ arms if he didn’t put them behind his back, according to the video.
Other clips show officers chasing after Nichols before getting him on the ground again. The officers then repeatedly kicked and struck Nichols with a baton and their fists as he screamed for his mother. He was then left propped up against a police car as the officers fist bumped.
Nichols, the father of a 4-year-old son, later died from his injuries.
In the wake of the fatal incident, the five officers, all of whom are Black men, were fired. The officers included Bloomfield High School graduate Desmond Mills Jr.
Mills, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith each face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.