MADISON, Wis. – Today, Representatives Darrin Madison (D-10) and Ryan Clancy (D-19) are furious and heartbroken after viewing the footage of Tyre Nichols being beaten to death by law enforcement.
Tyre Nichols was stopped by police officers for “reckless driving” approximately 100 yards from his home in Memphis, Tennessee. The officers escalated the situation which resulted in three minutes of police beating, pepper spraying, shocking, and restraining Tyre in what even the city’s police chief described as a “failing of basic humanity.” The officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., have each been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnapping, two charges of official misconduct and one charge of official oppression.
Representative Madison (D-10) issued the following statement:
“This is not an isolated case. This is the horrible and natural result of a system based on punitive controls instead of a realistic continuum of care that is rooted in rehabilitation, repairing the harm, and guaranteed safety not only for those in the care of our country but for our whole community.”
Representative Clancy (D-19) issued the following statement:
“Events like this brutal murder shake the conscience of our community. Many will urge us merely to ‘remain calm’. Please do not. To do so is to be complacent and complicit in this violence. Be angry. Protest. Agitate for change. Respond to this horrific and sustained systemic violence not with violence but with a fierce determination to tear down and replace the system responsible for it.
The charges filed in this case are merely the lowest bar of accountability after the fact – only systemic change which prevents future victims will bring justice. The demographics of the charged officers do not make this case ‘complicated’. They underline the present and historic reality of policing in America: policing is rooted in racism and against the interests of the working class. No amount of reform, training, or ‘community’ policing can or will change that.”
