Tyre Nichols: Funeral held for Black man killed by US police

Family and friends, as well as several other notable names, gathered in the US city of Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday to pay their final respects to Tyre Nichols — a Black man killed by police in January.

Vice President Kamala Harris attended the ceremony at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church where civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton held a eulogy for Nichols.

In a rousing sermon, Sharpton said the police beating of Nichols showed that some officers act as if they are above the law.

"You don't fight crime by becoming criminals yourself," he said. "You don't stand up to thugs in the street becoming thugs yourself."

Vice President Harris received a standing ovation as she was introduced at the funeral service.

"We mourn with you and the people of our country mourn with you,'' she told the Nichols family. She condemned the behavior of police toward Nichols, saying "it was not in the interest of keeping the public safe, because one must ask, was not it in the interest of keeping the public safe that Tyre Nichols would be with us today? Was he not also entitled to the right to be safe?'' 

Tyre Nichols mother, RowVaughn Wells, said Congress should take action on police reform : "There should be no other child that's just suffered the way my son and all the other parents here have lost their children."

Family members of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd — both of whom were killed by police and became rallying cries for the Black Lives Matter movement and some of the largest protests in recent US history — had also been invited to the funeral.

The ceremony had to be delayed by several hours due to icy weather.

What happened to Tyre Nichols?

The 29-year-old Nichols died on January 10 in the hospital following injuries sustained in a violent encounter with police officers. The officers had pulled over his vehicle while he was on his way home on January 7.

Attorney and civil rights leader Ben Crump described the incident, in which a group of officers beat and kicked the man, as a "police lynching."

Police released video footage of the confrontation on Friday, sparking widespread outrage and numerous protests.

Crump said the body camera footage showed officers taser, pepper spray and restrain Nichols for a traffic violation near his home as he returned from taking pictures of the sunset in a nearby park.

The footage also shows that the officers involved were also Black. This has opened up new discussions about the systemic nature of police violence and racism in the US.

Five of the officers involved were fired before being charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression. Two more officers have been relieved of duty and are under investigation, while three fire department workers were also fired.

ab/nm (Reuters, AP)