UN experts to visit US after death of Tyre Nichols
Family filed appeal with group for ‘urgent action’
United Nations experts on human rights “have expressed grave concern” over the deaths of Tyre Nichols in Memphis and Keenan Anderson, who was killed by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department.
“We have called on authorities to ensure prompt accountability and reparation,” said Tracie Keesee, member of the Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the context of Law Enforcement (EMLER), in a news release. “While we note that in the case of Tyre Nichols, five police officers have been criminally charged, and were dismissed following an administrative investigation, the horrifying footage of his beating is an alarming reminder of the urgent need of genuinely new approaches to traffic safety, traffic stops, and public safety more broadly.”
EMLER plans to visit the United
States in April, a visit during which it will work with U.S. government and stakeholders to address police brutality.
The group also questions the use of Tasers and says that in Nichols’ case, authorities “should show determination in questioning and reforming an institutionalized police culture that permits criminal assault under the guise of law enforcement and public safety.”
The response from the UN comes after family of Nichols filed an appeal with the international organization, of which the United States is a member, requesting “urgent action regarding the torture and extrajudicial killing of Tyre Nichols.” The letter asked that the UN call for all officers involved in the incident to be criminally charged.
EMLER also forwarded the letter from the attorneys to other special procedure mandates, according to a UN representative, including the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Special Rapporteur on summary executions. Both of those groups co-signed the letter and public statement on Nichols’ case.
In its release, UN experts say that the force used in both Anderson and Nichols’ cases “appears to have violated international norms protecting the right to life and prohibiting torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
“It is also not in line with standards set out under the United Nations Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials,” the news release reads.
Nichols, a 29-year-old Fedex employee and father, died Jan. 10, three days after Memphis police officers brutally beat, kicked and pepper sprayed him.
Five officers have been charged with second degree murder in his death. Other employees of the city and county remain under investigation.
Anderson, a 31-year-old teacher and father, died Jan. 3 after Los Angeles Police tased him six times, according to the LA Times.
Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.