Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump and the families of Breonna Taylor, Tyre Nichols and Sonya Massey called once again for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
Ben Crump said, “We thought certainly after George Floyd was tortured to death on video, during a pandemic and everybody saw it. We thought we’d get police reform in America. It didn’t happen.”
The bill, which covers major policing issues like qualified immunity, no-knock warrants and de-escalation training, was re-introduced in Congress this year but hasn’t had any movement.
The chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Steven Horsford, said the organization “affirms our commitment and reaffirms our commitment to the families that we are continuing to do all that we can to advance meaningful, bipartisan public safety legislation,”
Ben Crump says one piece of this legislation, a national police misconduct registry, could have saved Sonya Massey.
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Sean Grayson, who has been charged with Massey’s murder, worked at six different law enforcement agencies in four years after being charged with two DUIs years earlier.
“That officer who had been in six police departments in four years, would not have been on the force, and he would not have had the ability with a gun and a badge to shoot Sonya Massey in her face,” Crump said.
Three of the five officers charged with killing Tyre Nichols are in the middle of a federal civil rights trial.
Nichols’ mom, RowVaughn Wells, placed the blame for her son’s death squarely at the feet of Congress.
“I want to say to Congress, all these kids and all our kids that are being murdered. Their blood is on your hands,” Wells said.
Breonna Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, also spoke during the press conference — just weeks after a federal judge dismissed charges against two officers accused of submitting a false affidavit to search Taylor’s home which led to the deadly.
“I am tired. I am tired of begging for people to do the right thing because it’s bigger than Breonna. It’s all these women up here crying for their babies. And I know I’m not the only one feeling like I’m dying,” Palmer said.
The officers accused of killing Tyre Nichols also face state murder charges but that case is on hold until the federal trial concludes.
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