by Protesters are calling for justice more than 24 hours after the Memphis Police Department released graphic body camera video of officers beating Tire Nichols. He died three days after Memphis agents apprehended him on January 7.
All five of those officers have been fired and charged with manslaughter and other crimes related to Nichols’ death.
>>PHOTOS: Tire Nichols: People gather in Dayton
Black Lives Matter Dayton staged a protest Saturday afternoon at the Dayton Federal Building in Downtown Dayton.
Kayla McDermott of News Center 7 said more than a dozen protesters chanted with placards and several speakers called for change.
All were outraged by the body camera video released by the Memphis Police Department showing five officers beating up Tire Nichols during a traffic stop.
“We have the right to fight not only for civil rights, but also for human rights,” said one speaker.
>>Tire Nichols dead: Memphis’ SCORPION police unit permanently deactivated
Tania Hudson also protested, telling News Center 7 that she knows what it’s like to lose a son at the hands of a police officer.
“My son Deonte Bell was shot and killed seven years ago by Columbus police,” Hudson said.
She said she knows how much pain Nichols’ mother must be in.
“I was devastated by the pain the mother will experience for the rest of her life,” Hudson told News Center 7.
Especially with people watching the bodycam video from all over the country.
“To look and see what they did to her son is unbearable,” Hudson said. “It took me to ground zero. It made me even angrier that our own color violated that other brother.”
>>Tire Nichols: ‘Inhuman Act of Violence;’ President of Dayton NAACP speaks on video from Memphis Police
McDermott says the officers who killed Nichols were fired from the Memphis Police Department and charged with second-degree murder. But Hudson believes there needs to be more accountability across the country.
“Holding everyone accountable for our actions is what we all need to do,” she told News Center 7.
Hudson calls the meeting Saturday not a protest but rather a movement.
“Our lives are important, yours, mine,” she said. “Our lives are important. I pray throughout my life that I will have the opportunity to see change for my grandchildren.”
Hudson said she was honored that people came together on Saturday for this movement, but felt more people should have gathered.
