WATCH: Don Lemon Asks Memphis Police Chief ‘What It Says’ That All 5 Officers Charged In Tyre Nichols Murder Are Black
CNN anchor Don Lemon asked Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis what she makes of the fact that all 5 of the police officers charged in the Tyre Nichols case are Black.
Tensions are high as the nation awaits the release of body cam video of the deadly beating of 29-year-old Black man Tyre Nichols.
Mr. Nichols died on Jan. 10 following a Jan. 7 traffic stop during which police beat him. On Thursday, five officers were charged with murder in the case. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced the charges against former officers Emmit Martin III, Justin Smith, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Desmond Mills — all of whom were fired a week ago.
On Friday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, Lemon interviewed Chief Davis, who gave Lemon a preview of what people can expect to see when the body cam video is released Friday afternoon/evening.
Lemon wrapped up the interview by asking the chief what it says that all 5 officers charged in the beating are Black:
DON LEMON: I have to ask you this. Five Black officers. You’re a Black police chief, the Black community. What do you make of the race of the officers, and what that says to the community and to the country about the policing, the care?
CHIEF DAVIS: Well, I think it does… It takes off the table that issues and problems and law enforcement is about race. And it is not. It’s about human dignity, integrity, accountability, and the duty to protect a community. And as this video will show you, it doesn’t matter who’s wearing the uniform, that we all have that same responsibility. So it takes race off the table. But it does indicate to me that bias might be a factor also in, you know, in the manner in which we engage the community.
DON LEMON: You’ve given and so I am, I appreciate, shouldn’t say happy because there’s nothing happy about this but I appreciate that you’ve taken the time to be so candid and to give us so much time. Is there anything that I missed, anything that you would like to say to the community, to the family, to the country, really, about what you’re dealing with here?
CHIEF DAVIS: So as someone who’s been involved in the whole police reform conversation, you know, go on before the Senate. It’s just important for me as a leader to not just talk about police reform, but to take swift action, and also to represent other law enforcement leaders who have also reached out, who also believe that the way we handle these types of things and unfortunately, a man had to die for us to get to a point where we could actually exercise what justice looks like. But it’s important for us to prove to the community that no matter what, we’re going to do the right thing and that we’re going to work on our agencies, we’re going to take a deeper dive and not just assume the officers are doing what they’re supposed to do.
Watch above via CNN This Morning.
