Jim Jordan: Training would NOT stop five Memphis cops who killed Tire Nichols
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Jim Jordan says no reform or training will stop bad cops after five Memphis officers bludgeoned Tire Nichols to death during a traffic stop earlier this month.
The chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a member of the Oversight and Reform panel urged reform at the local level, claiming they could implement ways to track ‘roaming police officers’.
Lawmakers have tried to push through reforms at the federal level, especially amid rising anti-law enforcement sentiment amid the Black Lives Matter riots following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in the summer of 2020. .
When asked what solutions exist to combat police brutality in minority communities, Jordan urged more training and focus at the local level.
Rep. Jim Jordan said more training and reform at the federal level would not have stopped the five police officers who beat Tire Nichols and are now charged with his murder because they “have no respect for life.”
Tire Nichols, 29, died three days after being admitted to hospital this month after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers.
“Well, I’m all for the best workout possible,” Jordan told NBC Meet the Press host Chuck Todd on Sunday morning. But I am not in favor of what we saw there.
‘I don’t know if no training, no ban, no chokeholds used there. What they did there was keep hitting Mr. Nichols. And so I don’t know if that’s the answer,” he added.
“But again, we’ll look at what we think makes sense to help with this, to make sure they have the proper training.” But no amount of training is going to change what we saw in that video.’
Tire Nichols, 29, died in the hospital on January 10, three days after he was severely beaten by five Memphis Police Department officers during a traffic stop.
Nichols and the five police officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith, are black.
The five officers were fired on January 20, and on January 26 they were arrested and charged with Nichols’ murder, as well as kidnapping, assault, and misconduct.
Two firefighters who were in the ambulance that transported Nicholas to hospital were relieved and are now pending investigation.
The US Department of Justice and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have opened investigations into the murder.
“These five people had no respect for life,” Rep. Jordan said Sunday morning.
The five police officers were fired on January 20, and on January 26 they were arrested and charged with Nichols’ murder, as well as kidnapping, assault, and misconduct.
The officers charged with murder are L-R: Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, Tadarrius Bean, and Justin Smith.
Nichols was admitted to hospital in critical condition and died three days later.
“And again, I don’t think these five guys represent the vast, vast majority of law enforcement,” the Ohio congressman added. “But I don’t know if there’s anything you can do to stop the kind of evil we saw in that video.”
Jordan said some Democratic initiatives to try to crack down on police misconduct and weed out bad apples have been unsuccessful because it’s not something that can be addressed at the federal level.
“If we can incentivize certain things, I still think you want to keep this at the state and local level,” Jordan said.
“This is a law enforcement issue,” he added. “You start involving the federal government in databases and federal licenses, that’s understandable, because the federal government screws it up a lot of the time.”
“I think one of the items in the Democratic legislation a couple of years ago was some kind of federal registration,” Jordan recalled. ‘Well, then you’re worried that all the complaints are going to be there. Are they just going to be adjudicated complaints? How are we going to track this?
During the stop, Nicholas was pulled from his car, pepper sprayed and tasered. An officer is heard on video of the incident yelling to the other police officers: “I hope they stomp his ass.”
A three-minute beating then ensued in which officers punched and kicked Nichols, as well as hitting him with a baton while he was restrained.
Nichols, a FedEx worker and father of a four-year-old boy, was pulled over for alleged reckless driving.
During the stop, Nicholas was pulled from his car, pepper sprayed and tasered. An officer is heard on video of the incident yelling to the other police officers: “I hope they stomp his ass.”
A three-minute beating then ensued in which officers punched and kicked Nichols, as well as hitting him with a baton while he was restrained.
Nichols was admitted to hospital in critical condition and died three days later.