By Key Words: ‘It’s like a never-ending nightmare’: Tyre Nichols’s brother speaks out about Memphis man’s death after police altercation
“‘It’s like a never-ending nightmare’”
— Jamal Dupree to CNN
That was Jamal Dupree, brother of Tyre Nichols, speaking publicly for the first time since his brother was killed at the hands of police in Memphis, Tenn.
“It should never happen to anybody, but at the same time, when you see a person like that, and you know a person like that, it just takes a toll, Dupree said on CNN This Morning on Tuesday. “The world is going to miss a person like that.”
Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was brutally beaten by several police officers on Jan. 7 and died from his injuries three days later. Seven Memphis police officers have been disciplined as a result, including five Black officers who were fired and charged last week with second-degree murder and other offences.
On Monday, Memphis Fire Department officials announced the dismissal of emergency medical technicians Robert Long and JaMicheal Sandridge and Lt. Michelle Whitaker, who “failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment of Mr. Nichols.”
Dupree said that, despite the video of Nichols’s interaction with police being made public, he won’t watch it.
“As soon as I seen them photos from him in the hospital, I already knew that they treated my brother like an animal,” Dupree said. “They beat on him like he was nothing. I don’t have to watch the video to know that.”
Nichols was pulled over by police for an alleged traffic violation after photographing a sunset on Jan. 7, according to accounts his family would give later, when a confrontation occurred with Memphis officers. Nichols “succumbed to his injuries” on Jan. 10, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Read on: Tyre Nichols, George Floyd and police brutality: Time for a public-union reckoning?
