Politicians and law enforcement officials across New Jersey stood united Friday night in their condemnation of the five Tennessee police officers charged with murder in the violent beating death of Tyre Nichols — video footage of which was released earlier in the evening.
“We are horrified,” Gov. Phil Murphy and Lt. Gov. Sheila Olivier said in a joint statement.
“While we are gratified that the officers involved were immediately relieved of duty and swiftly charged for their roles in Tyre’s death, that does not reverse the injustice that was done. Tyre should be alive today.”
Memphis authorities released more than an hour of footage Friday of the beating, in which officers held the Black motorist down after a traffic stop and struck him repeatedly as he screamed for his mother.
The video emerged one day after the five officers were charged in 29-year-old Nichols’ death.
“The footage our nation watched tonight was unconscionable,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement.
“There is no excuse for this violence — it erodes the trust between community and law enforcement that people across this state tirelessly work to build and strengthen.”
All five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — were removed from the force and taken into custody.
The officers each face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Four of the five officers had posted bond and been released from custody by Friday morning, according to court and jail records.
“New Jersey has one of the finest law enforcement communities in the country, but we are not ignorant to the fact this breakdown of basic humanity can happen anywhere,” the county prosecutor’s association of New Jersey said in a statement.
“Every law enforcement encounter such as this reverses the progress we are making across our state. The trust we have worked so diligently to establish is damaged.”
Cities across the country braced for large demonstrations in response to the video release. Nichols’ relatives urged supporters to protest peacefully.
Officials in New Jersey did the same.
“As Tyre Nichols’ family has urged, we urge that any protests remain peaceful and nonviolent,” Philip Sellinger, New Jersey’s U.S. attorney, said.
“We want to make clear that the U.S. Attorney’s Office respects the right of all people to assemble and protest peacefully.”
The People’s Organization for Progress, a Newark-based activist organization, announced plans for a rally Saturday afternoon in the state’s largest city.
“What happened to Tyre Nichols was an abomination,” organization chair Larry Hamm said in a statement announcing the rally. “He died as a result of being brutally beaten by those five police officers.”
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