Tyre Nichols updates: Mourners honour ‘beautiful person’ at Memphis funeral as family urges Congress to act

Vice President Kamala Harris urged Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, bipartisan police reform legislation that passed the House of Representatives in 2021 but stalled in a deadlocked Senate with Republican opposition.

The bill, named in honour of the Black man who was murdered by Minneapolis police officers in 2020, was co-authored by then-Senator Harris.

“Let the memory of Tyre shine a light on the path toward peace and justice,” Ms Harris said in her brief remarks.

Vice President Kamala Harris was invited to attend the funeral of Tyre Nichols by his mother and stepfather, and the Rev Al Sharpton invited her to address the congregation gathered in Memphis on Wednesday.

She told his parents that “the people of our country mourn with you” and praised them for their “strength, courage, and grace”.

Wednesday’s funeral for Tyre Nichols in Memphis saw a re-energised call for the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, federal legislation that was passed by the House of Representatives in 2021 but has otherwise stalled in Congress.

“Police are partisan actors just like everyone else in power,” writes The Independent’s Josh Marcus, reflecting on his coverage of policing and criminal justice. “It’s vital to take their claims with a grain of salt.”

Memphis Police Department’s now-disbanded SCORPION unit – which stands for “Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods” – was introduced in October 2021. It was dissolved in the aftermath of Tyre Nichols’s death.

The Independent’s Graeme Massie examines several similar controversial units in departments across the US that have been accused of abuse and excessive force.

Far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene invoked the fatal shooting of Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt after the mention of Tyre Nichols, who was fatally beaten by police.

She then suggested that people who have been jailed for their roles in the insurrection are facing “civil rights abuse” in jail.

Ms Greene went on to say that Congress was doing nothing to address the treatment of other participants in the attack, many of whom remain incarcerated ahead of their respective trials.

There’s a simple reason for that: Ms Babbitt was part of a crowd that was actively trying to breach a door that had been barricaded in a restricted area. She was shot by an officer while attempting to climb through a window that her fellow rioters had broken. Federal prosecutors have closed the case and the officer was cleared of wrondoing.

A leaked incident report on Tyre Nichols’ arrest and fatal beating by Memphis police officers contains glaring inaccuracies that were later exposed after the release of bodycam and surveillance footage.

The report, written two hours after Nichols’ beating on 7 January, claimed that the 29-year-old was “irate” and refused lawful detention, tried to start a fight with officers, and also attempted to take an officer’s gun, during an initial traffic stop.

Four of the five former Memphis Police Department officers charged for the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols were suspended or reprimanded in prior incidents while working for the department, according to recently unveiled personnel files.

The officers faced little if any consequences, according to the city’s records of their cases, and they were praised in at least two instances, with other officers describing their actions as one-time events.

LaToya Yizar, who says her mother was Tyre Nichols’ godmother, read a poem at his funeral invoking the words he told officers the night he was beaten.

From the lectern at Mississippi Boulevard Baptist Church in Memphis, she read “I’m Just Trying to Go Home”.

In his eulogy, the Rev Al Sharpton said that “home is not just a place.”

“Home is where you are at peace. Home is where you don’t have to keep your dukes up. Home is where you’re not vulnerable,” he said. “Home is where everything is all right.”