United Nation’s ‘grave concerns’ over Nichols death prompts U.S. visit over human rights

MEMMPHIS, Tenn. — United Nations officials announced that the beating death of Tyre Nichols, according to authorities, has prompted representatives to visit the U.S. to learn more about use of force regulations for law authorities.

Specifically, U.N. officials want to explore and learn more about police departments’ policies pertaining to the use of less-lethal weapons that include tasers.

Nichols’s death and a similar recent case in Los Angeles have elicited “grave concerns,” U.N. officials say, over whether the applied use of police force in the U.S. violates the U.N. Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials.

“The brutal deaths of Keenan Anderson and Tyre Nichols are more reminders of the urgency to act,” said Yvonne Mokgoro, Chairperson of the UN International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the context of Law Enforcement, in a release.

The U.N. visit is scheduled for April.

Tracie Keesee, a member of the U..N.’s Expert Mechanism committee, noted that the five police officers in the Nichols case were criminally charged and dismissed following an administrative investigation.

But she added: “The horrifying footage of his beating is an alarming reminder of the urgent need of genuinely new approaches to traffic safety, traffic stops, and public safety more broadly.”