Yash Roy photo
At Saturday's press conference at First Calvary Baptist Church.
A dozen Black community leaders, politicians, and pastors gathered in Newhallville to mourn the latest nation-shaking episode of police brutality — and to draw a connection between the arrests of five Memphis cops for the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, and the arrests of five New Haven cops for the mishandling of Richard “Randy” Cox.
They drew that painful throughline Saturday morning during a press conference held at First Calvary Baptist Church at 605 Dixwell Ave.
Rev. Boise Kimber, Bridgeport State Sen. Herron Gaston, Dwight Alder Frank Douglass, and community activists such as Rodney Williams and Sean Reeves came together for that presser the morning after the Memphis Police Department publicly released roughly an hour of video footage showing five Memphis police officers beating a 29-year-old Black man named Tyre Nichols so severely after a Jan. 7 traffic stop that he later died from his injuries. All five officers were subsequently fired from their jobs and have been arrested on charges of second-degree murder.
Saturday morning’s presser also took place roughly two months after five New Haven police officers were arrested on misdemeanor charges for their roles in the June 19 incident that left 36-year-old New Havener Randy Cox injured and paralyzed while in police custody. Four of those cops remain employed by the city’s police department pending an internal investigation into their conduct, while one of the five arrested officers has retired from the force. All five New Haven cops have pleaded not guilty in those ongoing criminal cases.
For those who gathered at First Calvary on Saturday morning, Nichols’ case holds disturbing parallels to Cox’s closer to home.
Everyone who spoke on Saturday also called for any protests to come out of this case of police brutality in Tennessee to be peaceful, echoing sentiments expressed by Nichols’ family before the release of the video Friday night.
Kimber and others at the presser questioned why the New Haven police officers involved in the Randy Cox case still have their jobs, given that the Memphis police chief has already fired those officers who were involved in Nichols’ fatal beating.
“Tyre Nichols died because of police brutality in Memphis,” Kimber said. “Randy Cox is paralyzed because of police misconduct in New Haven. It took Memphis three weeks to fire the cops and charge them. Why did it take so much longer to charge in Connecticut and why are the cops still on the city’s payroll in New Haven?”
After the press conference, New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson told the Independent that he had spoken with Kimber and assured him that justice would be done by Cox. Jacobson declined to comment on calls to fire the New Haven police officers before the completion of the Internal Affairs (IA) investigation, which Jacobson said would most likely conclude by mid-to-late February.
“I like what they did in Memphis,” Kimber said on Saturday about the firing of the involved officers. “They did not take six months to decide on firing these individuals. They moved swiftly. And I would hope that in the state of Connecticut when such an incident happens, that law enforcement and mayors and state attorneys will move swiftly to fire and arrest.”
Ben Crump, a national civil rights attorney who is representing both Cox’s and Nichols’ respective families in these cases, told the Independent in an email comment on Saturday: “While Randy Cox is still with us today, there are stark similarities to the police encounter that left him paralyzed and the one that robbed Tyre’s mother of her son. What we see in both videos is the direct result of a pack mentality. We also witnessed the officers failing to provide any medical assistance. For Randy, after he was slammed head first into the back of a transport vehicle, crushing his spine, and for Tyre as he clung to life. It is our hope that these cases will be the catalyst for significant reform…reforms including the shuttering of the SCORPION Squad.”
What The Nichols Video Shows
According to police body cam videos released by the Memphis Police Department on Friday night, which can be watched in full here, Nichols was pulled over by Memphis police officers on Jan. 7 on a suspicion of reckless driving. Officers dragged him out of his car and pulled him to the ground, cursing at him as he initially responded calmly.
Officers then appear to use a stun gun on Nichols, who proceeded to flee the scene on foot. He was then followed and beaten by those same officers, who were part of a “Scorpion” unit, or special unit created to police areas designated as having high levels of crime or violence.
In the video, Nichols is on the ground when officers kick him in the head, beat him with a baton, spray him with pepper spray, and continue to violently assault him even as he appears not to resist. Nichols is heard crying “mom, mom, mom” in the video. The site of his beating was a few blocks away from his home.
Officers in the video appear to escalate their use of force while giving Nichols conflicting orders like demands to show his hands even though another officer was holding his arms behind his back while another officer punched him. After the police officers pepper sprayed and handcuffed him, Nichols lay on the ground for more than 16 minutes, even after medics arrived and delayed to administer treatment.
Nichols died three days after the beating. An autopsy found that he had “suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating.”
"It's Not A Person Thing. It's A Policeman Thing"
Rodney Williams.
At Saturday’s press conference in Newhallville, speaker after speaker called on New Haven’s city government to acknowledge what they described as decades of police brutality in the city that continues to traumatize Black New Haveners.
Rodney Williams spoke about talking with community members who had recounted being beat on Munson Street and across Newhallville.
“The city to this day does not acknowledge what they did in New Haven was wrong but instead they call for us all to move on,” Williams said. “We’re not going to move on because the cut keeps getting cut open when we see videos like this because the trauma comes back about what they did to us. They say we’re doing different policing but never say we’re sorry for how we treated you. When is that going to happen?”
“We called after all of the brutality to include more people of color as cops and now the five cops in Memphis and the cops with Randy Cox were people of color,” WIlliams added. “The same cops we fought to make cops are now beating us with white cops. That’s why we’re realizing it’s not a person thing. It’s a policeman thing and it’s happening all across the country and it’s happening right here.”
Bridgeport State Sen. Herron Gaston.
Gaston, who is the Senate chair of the state legislature’s Public Safety Committee, promised to push for legislation this session in Hartford that will strengthen police accountability. Gaston said he plans to introduce legislation requiring officers to immediately inform people why they are being pulled over.
He also said he plans on working with New Haven State Sen. and Judiciary Committee Co-Chair Gary Winfield on a Medical Miranda bill, state legislation that has been called for after Randy Cox did not receive medical attention after repeatedly telling officers in New Haven that he could not move and was injured.
Gaston also committed to studying changes to Connecticut’s current municipal immunity statutes which New Haven has invoked in an ongoing federal civil lawsuit filed by Cox’s family. (The mayor has also repeatedly said his administration is open to negotiating with the family and is pursuing settlement talks in that case.)
“I think that we need to make our laws stronger so that when cops mess up they’re on the hook to pay and they should not be indemnified by the city, but they should have insurance that can be sued and so that they can be held liable,” Gaston said.
Joint Statement by Mayor Justin Elicker and Police Chief Karl Jacobson on the Fatal Beating and Murder Of Tyre Nichols
Also on Saturday morning, Mayor Elicker and Police Chief Jacobson released the following joint statement about the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols. That statement reads in full:
The heinous beating, treatment and murder of Tyre Nichols by officers of the Memphis Police Department is both sickening and enraging – and, like others, we watched the videos that were released last night with horror and disgust.
We grieve with the Nichols family, the City of Memphis, and the nation at these abhorrent acts of police brutality and violence, we condemn them in the strongest possible terms, and we are glad that the officers involved will be held accountable for their criminal acts.
Police officers swear an oath to protect and serve their fellow residents and the community, and we must do everything in our power – whether in Memphis, New Haven or elsewhere – to ensure that our police departments and criminal justice system live up to that solemn promise and treat everyone with dignity and respect, regardless of their race or background.
In New Haven, we remain committed to that goal and we are resolved – in our policing, policies, and practices – to provide fair and impartial treatment of all residents and to ensure equal justice under the law.
The pain, humiliation and sorrow expressed by the men who were standing in the pulpit were evident. Their trauma is present in their voices, their faces, and their spirits. Thank you for your coverage of this tragic event. However, I have one request. Please consider removing the hyperlink to the video. A narrative will suffice. I watched how the World News Tonight station and anchor David Muir were considerate of the concerns of former House Speaker's Nancy Pelosi family as well as the sensibilities of "American's" by choosing not to show the brutal attack of her husband on national television. I would appreciate the same consideration for my sons and grandsons, and granddaughters. We no longer require iron brandishing.