Commissioner Rodney Ellis’ Statement on Video of Tyre Nichols’ Beating

The collective sorrow and outrage we feel today, following the release of a video depicting Tyre Nichols being beaten by five police officers in Memphis, Tenn., is a call to action. We all must work together to transform our justice system and police practices, make our communities safer, and answer the cry for justice that has been echoing across this country for centuries.

Black people continue to be killed by police at a higher rate than other groups. In the nearly three years since George Floyd’s murder unleashed a clarion cry for racial justice and police accountability, the number of Black people killed by police has increased. Needed reforms have not been made.

Across this country, communities of color are impacted disproportionately by our criminal justice system and police practices. Black people know how fear and anxiety can take over when stopped by police because we’ve seen too many “routine” stops end in death even with the bodycams rolling. We’ve experienced our own unwarranted stops and unfounded suspicions that can lead to the loss of our freedom or our lives.

These moments that grip us as a nation and shock the conscience are not isolated incidents. They reflect the systemic injustices and inequities that shape our legal system and institutions in devastating ways. Police hold two of the greatest powers imaginable in this country – the power to curtail one's freedom through arrest and the power to use deadly force on behalf of the state. Given the power they wield over our fundamental rights to life and liberty in a broken system, police must be held to the highest standards of accountability and justice.