White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday said President Joe Biden has been briefed about Tyre Nichols' encounter with police but neither he nor White House officials have seen the video.
Jean-Pierre said that Biden was joining Nichols family's call for peaceful protest. She added that the moment underscored the need for Congress to pass legislation addressing policing reform. Biden unsuccessfully pushed for a sweeping legislation, known as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, earlier in his term.
"Today, we all must recommit ourselves to the critical work that must be done to advance meaningful reforms," Jean-Pierre said. "Tyre's death is a painful reminder that we must do more to ensure that our criminal justice system lives up to the promise of fair and impartial justice, equal treatment, and dignity for all."
Authorities on Friday were set to release police video depicting five Memphis officers beating a Black man whose death resulted in murder charges and provoked outrage at the country's latest instance of police brutality.
Family members of Tyre Nichols pleaded for any protests to remain peaceful.
The officers, all of whom are Black, were charged Thursday with murder and other crimes in the killing of Nichols, a motorist who died three days after a Jan. 7 confrontation with the officers during a traffic stop.
Nichols' family members and their lawyers said the footage shows officers savagely beating the 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes in an assault that the legal team likened to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.
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