hearing out here for demonstrators and the people who have turned out. they stopped traffic. you saw 18 wheelers that were stopped on both sides of the roads for hours here. they are now moving again, appearing to make their way towards the police department. but taking their time and no rush as they continue to call for this justice. and again, i want to point out because memphis pd did acknowledge very early on there was going to be outrage when this video was released. they were prepared to handle this. and we had not seen police engaging with protesters. i have not even seen officers out here attempting to stop them from blocking the roads. all we saw was memphis pd put out a release, saying for people to avoid this area. because there was things going on. but that has been it. i should also point out that there are also these people, marshals, walking around, and they have these green sort of labels on their jackets. and so the intention is, that if there were some type of int
floyd and breonna taylor in 2020, hundreds of police departments nationwide implemented reforms that were aimed at reducing excessive use of force and restoring trust with local communities. the memphis police department was one of them. the new york times notes, the department eliminated the use of no knock warrants. officers were or acquired he s de-escalation shredded jeez, and intervene if they saw others using excessive force. they could shoot at a suspect only as a last resort and had to attempt to issue a verbal warning beforehand. and each time they used or threatened to use force against civilians, they had to reported. a ban against chokeholds was already in place. the memphis police chief, c. j. dave, this is the five officers directly involved in the death of tyre nichols, all of whom were hired between 2017 and 2020, violated those policies.
the newly elected shelby district a county who ran on a platform different address racial profiling and de-escalation training tactics. and the memphis chief of police has also spoken out about reforms, including on a national scale. the kind of timeline we have seen in the tyre nichols case is not the norm when it comes to police violence against black americans, especially when it comes to these killings that have been caught on video. in the 2014 you re killing of 17-year-old laquan mcdonald in chicago which was captured on dash cam video, it took nearly 14 months for the police officer who killed him to be charged. in 2019 it again took four months for a texas police officer to be charged in the killing of 44-year-old pamela turner. it took over three years for five police officers to be indicted in the 2019 brutal beating of unarmed ronald greene in baton rouge, which, again, was captured on body cam video. that s it for us tonight.
another programs, are not required painful reminder of the by law, to profound accommodate all students fear the way public, trauma schools do. and, and pain, and so not every exhaustion that black and family brown understands that they may be americans experience giving up some rights every single day. by using these programs. my their heart goes out tyre nichols to there is sort of family that it into the americas in memphis and opens up this across this country are grieving this door tremendously painful loss. the to footage that was released this evening believable justifiably outraged. those who seek justice should not resort to violence or destruction. violence is never acceptable. it is illegal and destructive, and quote. president biden spoke with tyre nichols family for more than ten minutes today, before the video was released. here is what the president had to say about the phone call. i spoke with tyre nichols your mother and express my condolences and told her that
that were involved in this are held accountable. and i, should say we have already seen the tennessee sheriff s office put out a statement, the shelby county sheriff s office put out a statement saying that two of their deputies have now been placed on leave pending an internal investigation into their actions during this incident. ali? priscilla, thank you for your important coverage. nbc news correspondent priscilla thompson is in memphis. we will, of course, they with through the course of the evening. leading off our discussion tonight is phillip atiba goff, cofounder and ceo of the center for policing equity. he s also the chair of african american studies and a professor of psychology at yale university. marq claxton s former director of the black law enforcement alliance. and jelani cobb is a staff writer for the new yorker and dean of columbia university school of journalism, also an msnbc political contributor. thank you for being here. although, it is a difficult night. jel