Newark Residents Protest And Mourn For Tyre Nichols, Carl Dorsey

NEWARK, NJ — Dozens of Newark residents gathered for a rally and march last weekend, demanding an end to “police brutality.” The protest was held in the names of Tyre Nichols and Carl Dorsey.

Memphis authorities released more than an hour of footage Friday of the violent beating of Nichols, in which officers held the Black motorist down and struck him repeatedly as he screamed for his mother, the Associated Press reported.

The video emerged one day after the officers were charged with murder in Nichols' death. Read More: Tyre Nichols Arrest Video Released By Memphis Authorities (Watch)

Nearly 100 people gathered outside the Essex County Courthouse in Newark on Saturday at a rally spearheaded by the People's Organization for Progress (POP). Many of them were there to decry Nichols’ death.

“Although there appears to be swift accountability with the termination and indictment of these officers, the ‘unspeakable horror’ of what this young man went through – using Dr. Martin Luther King's language – is emblematic of the persisting scourge of police brutality,” POP founder and former U.S. Senate candidate Lawrence Hamm said.

Protesters at Saturday’s rally called for increased transparency, more civilian oversight of the police, and an end to qualified immunity, no-knock warrants and chokeholds, Gothamist reported.

“Obviously, there are police that did not learn any lessons from the death of George Floyd,” Hamm said. Read More: Newark Group Says NJ Should Have Done More After George Floyd's Death

Other people in Newark have been speaking out in the wake of Nichols’ death.

Another Newark activist, Bashir Muhammad Ptah Akinyele, said he was “outraged” at the beating and murder of Tyre Nichols by self-hating Black officers.” Each of the five accused officers is Black.

“The consequences of white supremacy and institutional racism have created abnormal levels of vicious acts of Black self-hatred in the Afrikan world community,” said Akinyele, a history teacher in Newark.

“I am not, in any kind of way, making excuses for misguided Black people that attack innocent Black people through Black to Black violence, but we have internalized our oppressor’s barbaric racist behavior towards one another in the Black community,” he added.

• Read More: White Supremacy, Systematic Racism And The Illusion Of Black Progress (Op-Ed)

CARL DORSEY SHOOTING

Meanwhile, Newark activists continue to push for more investigation into a police shooting that left an unarmed man dead on New Year’s Day two years ago.

Last week, a state grand jury declined to file criminal charges against the police officer who shot and killed Carl Dorsey III, 39, of South Orange, just after midnight on Jan. 1 in 2021.

In the wake of the shooting, New Jersey Attorney General’s Office released video surveillance footage taken at the scene. The footage – which comes from a nearby security camera – shows a chaotic scene, with several people running in panic after apparently hearing a gunshot. It can be seen here.

After hearing the testimony and evidence, the grand jury concluded its deliberations on Tuesday and voted “no bill,” meaning that the jury concluded no criminal charges should be filed against Detective Rod Simpkins of the Newark Police Department. Read More: No Criminal Charges For Newark Cop Who Shot Unarmed NJ Man, Jury Rules

However, Newark will be taking up its own probe into the shooting now that the state’s own process has run its course, Mayor Ras Baraka said. Read More: Newark Launches Its Own Probe Into Police Shooting After Jury Decision

The grand jury’s decision came more than two years after the shooting took place.

Last summer, Dorsey’s family filed a lawsuit against the officer who shot him, several other unnamed officers, the local police department and the city. The civil lawsuit is seeking punitive damages, costs and attorney fees. It accuses police of committing excessive force during the encounter, and accuses the city of failing to train officers properly.

• See related: NJ Family Files Lawsuit After Fatal Police Shooting In Newark
• See related: Fatal Police Shooting In Newark 2 Years Ago Hasn't Been Forgotten

After reviewing video footage of the shooting last year, Baraka said he found it to be “tragic and disturbing,” but also “incomplete.” The mayor added that the city and its police department would be looking into expanding the use of body cameras to include plainclothes units. Read More: Newark Mayor On Police Shooting: 'Tragic, Disturbing, Incomplete'

That new policy took effect in January 2021. Read More: Newark Now Requires Most Plainclothes Cops To Wear Body Cameras

The state’s investigation of the shooting left many people in Newark fuming, Hamm said prior to Saturday's march.

“In Dorsey's case, the attorney general's office took two years to conduct an investigation of an incident captured on videotape with an officer with a troubled history, and they came back with nothing and did not even contact the family at any phase of the investigation,” the POP chair said.

“We are calling on the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey to do an investigation with the integrity that the attorney general's office lacked,” he added.

A news conference was planned to take place on Monday, including members of Dorsey's family, their attorney and local activists.

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