Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the funeral of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, her office announced.
Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, died earlier this month three days after a violent confrontation with Memphis police officers during a traffic stop. Video released last week shows shows officers savagely beating Nichols for three minutes and screaming profanities at him as he called out for his mother. The officers were seen in the video propping Nichols against a police car and exchanging fist-bumps.
All five police officers involved been fired and charged with second-degree murder and other alleged crimes. Two more Memphis police officers have been disciplined and three emergency responders fired in connection with Nichols’ death, officials said Monday. Officer Preston Hemphill, who is white, and another officer whose name wasn’t released, have been suspended, police said.
Harris was invited to attend the funeral services Wednesday by Nichols’ mother and stepfather, RowVaughn Wells and Rodney Wells, according to Harris’s press secretary, Kirsten Allen. Harris spoke by phone with the Wells family on Tuesday, expressing her condolences and offering her support. President Joe Biden spoke by phone to Nichols’ family last week.
Harris will be joined by former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a senior adviser to the president for public engagement, and Mitch Landrieu, a White House senior advisor and infrastructure implementation coordinator, who is a former mayor of New Orleans, Allen said.
In a statement following the release of the video, the vice president expressed outrage and called for Congress to pass police reform legislation.
"Tyre Nichols should have made it home to his family. Yet, once again, America mourns the life of a son and father brutally cut short at the hands of those sworn to protect and serve," Harris wrote. "The footage and images released tonight will forever be seared in our memories, and they open wounds that will never fully heal."
Nichols’ funeral is set for Wednesday at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis. Sharpton will give the eulogy and Crump will speak immediately after the funeral. Those expected to be in attendance include Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, and Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd.
The deaths of Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and Floyd in Minneapolis, at the hands of police sparked protests across the nation about racial injustice.
Separately, Nichols' mother and stepfather have accepted an invitation to attend President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech on Feb. 7.