5 US Police Officers Plead "Not Guilty" To Fatal Beating Of Black Man
NDTV
Videos of the incident showed the five officers, who are all Black, repeatedly kicking and punching Nichols in a traffic stop close to his home on January 7, three days before he died in hospital.
Lawyers for five officers said they pleaded "not guilty" Friday to charges that they murdered Tyre Nichols, a young Black man who died after a police beating in Memphis, Tennessee last month.
Videos of the incident showed the five officers, who are all Black, repeatedly kicking and punching Nichols in a traffic stop close to his home on January 7, three days before he died in hospital.
Attorneys representing the five, all of whom were fired by the Memphis police department, appeared in a brief initial plea hearing for an explosive trial that has drawn national attention to the issues of police abuse and mistreatment of African Americans.
Judge James Jones acknowledged those sensitivities as he warned the defendants and the family of Nichols present in court that the trial could be long and involve "high emotions," and urged "civility" for all those involved.
