Mike Beckom for January 30, 2023

In my neighborhood scorpions are poisonous pests that you don’t want around

Since it was five black cops, it wasn’t racism. It was people with power who lacked self control. Perhaps that explains other situations as well.

It wasn’t even a traffic stop. There has been no cause given for pulling him over in the first place. There’s a story floating around that the victim had come close to one of the cop cars as he was driving by, but that hasn’t been confirmed.

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely” (part of a Lord Acton quote).

The NYTimes has an interesting piece where they break down the commands the officers gave Mr. Nichols. 71 different commands, in 13 minutes, many of which contradicted each other. Seems like officers were only focused on their orders/their interactions with Mr. Nichols. Extremely poor training where cops are in such a mindset that ended with hugely tragic consequences.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/tyre-nichols-video-assault-cops.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20230130&instance_id=84025&nl=todaysheadlines&regi_id=63027256&segment_id=123898&user_id=f0c1da84a2aca2dcf376aee15f57c505

Defund the police.

^ Better training!

Black leadership empowering black authority, killing an innocent black. Is that the kind of equity they wanted? So horribly sad for Mr. Nichols and family. How many others did these cops bully before this?