In the wake of Tyre Nichols' death, past defeats on police reform haunt Congress

The country watched the now hauntingly familiar scene play out across its screens. Family members tearfully pleaded for change. Lawmakers in Washington pledged to pass meaningful reform.

Biden pumped momentum into talks during the nationally televised address telling Congress to “get it done” by the next month, the anniversary of a Minneapolis police officer’s killing of another Black man, George Floyd.

“We’ve all seen the knee of injustice on the neck of Black Americans,” the Democratic president said. “Now is our opportunity to make some real progress.”

And then, as before, negotiations fell apart along partisan lines, pushing the issue of police brutality to the back of the line of legislative priorities, underscoring again how Congress often fails to deliver solutions even when there is broad agreement on the problem.

As Biden begins his third year in office, there is another deadly sequel. A video released last week showed the violent Jan. 7 encounter between Tyre Nichols and the Memphis, Tennessee, police officers who savagely beat the 29-year-old Black FedEx worker for three minutes while screaming profanities at him.

Nichols was hospitalized and died days later. Five police officers, who also are Black, were fired and charged with second-degree murder and other offenses in his beating and death. On Monday, two more Memphis police officers were disciplined and three emergency medical technicians were fired in the case.

Nichols’ parents are set to attend Biden’s State of the Union address next week, hoping to increase pressure on the president and Washington.

And the same lawmakers who were close to a deal the last time are now looking to see if any remnants of a compromise have the chance of passing a newly divided Congress.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Thursday to explore the possibility of getting such a bill back on track.

“My hope is this dark memory spurs some action that we’ve all been fighting for,” Biden said before the start of the Oval Office meeting.

At the White House were Sens. Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Cory Booker of New Jersey — two of the three Black senators — and Reps. Steven Horsford of Nevada, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Joe Neguse of Colorado.

Horsford, the caucus chairman, said it was long past time to have a “genuine” conversation about policing in America. “I am working to make sure that we have a clear plan.”

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the sole Black Republican senator, emerged as one of the lead negotiators in the Senate after the brutal police killing of Floyd in 2020. He and Booker embarked on a nine-month, painstaking negotiation.

The talks focused on writing compromise legislation curbing law enforcement agencies’ use of force and making them more accountable for abuses. But negotiations stalled over Democrats’ demands to make individual police officers accused of abuses liable for civil penalties.

It’s currently difficult to pursue such actions, called “qualified immunity,” in all but the most egregious cases. Republicans and law enforcement groups like the Fraternal Order of Police have resisted easing those limitations.

Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, said he was in touch with the White House last Friday, when video of Nichols’ beating became public, about whether the situation could be a catalyst to “get things moving again.”

His organization, the nation’s largest police union, had participated in previous attempts to reach a bipartisan deal. It agreed on banning chokeholds, curbing the transfer of military equipment to police and increasing funds for mental health programs. Those agreements are now the foundation for any negotiations in the wake of Nichols’ death.

Pasco said “we’re kind of in a wait-and-see mode right now,” with Republicans now controlling the House, making legislative progress harder.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Thursday signaled an openness to discussing the issue.

Scott said resurrecting the previous Democratic bill is a “nonstarter.” He implored Democrats to put aside “tribalism” in order to strike a deal. “I’ve been working toward common ground solutions that actually have a shot at passing,” he said. “Solutions to increase funding and training to make sure only the best wear the badge.”

At Nichols’ funeral in Memphis on Wednesday, Harris demanded that Congress pass the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act, legislation she co-authored during her time in the Senate.

Nichols’ loved ones echoed that sentiment.

“We need to take some action because there should be no other child that should suffer the way my son — and all the other parents here have lost their children — we need to get that bill passed,” RowVaughn Wells said Wednesday as they buried her son. “Because if we don’t, that blood — the next child that dies — that blood is going to be on their hands.”