Sometime today authorities will release an hour-long tape of five Memphis police officers beating Tyre Nichols, who died Jan. 10 from the beating. The officers were quickly fired and now have been indicted on seven felony charges.
- Jan. 7 – Beating of Tyre Nichols, 29
- Jan. 10 – Tyre Nichols dies in hospital
- Jan. 20 – Five officers, all Black, are fired
- Jan. 26 – Shelby County DA Steve Mulroy announces indictments
- Jan. 27 – Tapes to be released
Tyre Nichols
The investigation was led by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, headed by former Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch. He called the recordings “absolutely appalling,” adding “This was wrong; this was criminal.”
Attorney Ben Crump, who represents Nichols’ family, said the beating lasted more than three minutes, and that the video shows Nichols was tased, pepper-sprayed and restrained. Another attorney called Nichols “a human piñata for those officers.”
Ethicist Al Tompkins, writing January 26, 2023, in the Poynter newsletter on Ethics and Trust, debated with himself about how media should handle the almost-certain-to-be-inflammatory tapes. It’s an interesting read.
Quick Quotables
Hungarian scientist Hans Selye, who studied the effects of stress on people and animals, had a couple of good quotes:
“The element of chance in basic research is overrated. Chance is a lady who smiles only upon those few who know how to make her smile.”
And: “Find your own stress level – the speed at which you can run toward your own goal. Make sure that both the stress level and the goal are really your own, and not imposed upon you by society, for only you yourself can know what you want and how fast you can accomplish it. There is no point in forcing a turtle to run like a racehorse or in preventing a racehorse from running faster than a turtle because of some ‘moral obligation.’ The same is true of people.”
Garrison Keillor will be appearing in one-day shows during February. Close by venues are: 2/22/23 Fort Lauderdale, FL, 2/23/23 Maryville, TN and 2/24/23 Frankfort, KY
Jeff Bezos is unlikely to sell The Washington Post, says Media Nation writer Dan Kennedy. The New York Post claimed that Bezos would unload the newspaper in order to raise money to buy the Washington Commanders. Kennedy, with source attribution, says Bezos is worth $120.7 billion; the Commanders are valued at $5.6 billion and The Washington Post is possibly worth less today than what Bezos paid for it in 2013 – $250 million.
Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of Knox TN Today Inc.