that the police of USA makes a excessive use of force It’s not something new. What is used disproportionately against African Americans –and Latinos, and other communities of color– neither. The novelty is that the US Department of Justice itself admits itas done in a historic statement by the admission of guilt which is accompanied by a supposed desire for reform.
It is the result of a investigation after death from a beating to a black motorist in 2023, Tire Nichols, at the hands of the Memphis Police Department. The Justice Department report reveals a systematic discrimination against black people, with mental disabilities and against minors and strongly calls on the police in this Tennessee city to undertake major reforms.
From racism to beating
This discrimination starts from random traffic stopsin which agents record disproportionately to people of colorin meetings that often end in the use of unjustified force. The Department of Justice points out that the Memphis Police carries out illegal identifications, searches and arrestsdiscriminates in its responses to people with mental health disabilities and in its treatment of children “who have experienced aggressive and frightening encounters with officers,” according to the report.
That was the case of Nicholsof 29 yearswhich died as a result of a brutal beating by five police officers They gave him after stopping him in a unjustified traffic control. A federal jury found three of those Memphis officers guilty of witness tampering in connection with his trial for Nichols’ death. However, the agents were acquitted of the most serious chargeswhich could have sentenced them to life sentence. Two other former agents had already declared themselves guilty on federal charges and had testified against their former colleagues at trial.
