Tennessee Democratic lawmakers announced plans to introduce bills within the upcoming legislative session that concentrate on statewide police reforms after a bunch of officers savagely beat Tyre Nichols earlier this month.
Nichols died within the hospital on Jan. 10, three days after Memphis police pulled him over and commenced pummeling, tasering and pepper-spraying him, in accordance with video of the attack that was released Friday.
At a press conference Saturday morning, Tennessee state Reps. Joe Towns, G.A. Hardaway and John Ray Clemmons announced that the House Democratic Caucus plans to file bills in the approaching days to handle police training and mental health evaluations for officers, the Business Appeal reported.
“We would like to be sure once you’re hired that you simply’ve had a psychological evaluation and that you simply are suited to this job and the job is suited to you,” Hardaway said.
Other laws would have law enforcement officers switch from de-escalating to non-escalating techniques and require implicit bias training for police officials in Tennessee.
“It’s truly unlucky that we would wish to legislate humanity in 2023,” Clemmons said.
Democrats hold a mere 24 out of 99 seats within the state house, but Towns said that given the severity of Nichols’ death, he believes bipartisan support is feasible.
Read more of the Post’s coverage of Tyre Nichols’ beating death
“You could be hard-pressed to take a look at this footage, see what happened to this young man and never attempt to do something,” he said.
Five law enforcement officials who were involved in Nichols’ arrest — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — were fired by the Memphis Police Department and charged along with his murder.
On a call Friday with President Biden, Nichols’ parents and their lawyer, Benjamin Crump, pressed the commander-in-chief to renew efforts for police reforms.