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WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. (PIX11) — Communities around the country continue to hold prayer vigils for Tyre Nichols and his family. Nichols will be laid to rest Wednesday in Memphis.
Two prayer vigils were held in Westchester County on Tuesday night. One was at City Hall Plaza in Mount Vernon, while the other was in Renaissance Plaza in White Plains.
In Mount Vernon, Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard addressed a crowd gathered on the steps.
“We have to make sure there’s training in place, and that our police departments aren’t just certified, that they’re doing real training and dealing with the culture of policing,” Patterson-Howard said.
Nichols died from injuries suffered after he was beaten by Memphis police officers following a traffic stop in early January, officials said.
A total of seven Memphis Police Officers have been disciplined. Five of them have been fired and charged with second-degree murder. Three members of the Memphis Fire Department were also fired.
In White Plains, organizer Chrystalia King, with the White Plains Greenburg Chapter of the NAACP, told PIX11 News it’s important to hold community prayer vigils to help the community heal.
“It’s just sad this keeps happening, but it just goes to show you that this is worldwide, color is not an issue as far as the officers, and it’s more of a systematic issue in power,” King said.