The Ethical Society of Police and mental health professionals talk their response to the brutal video, how to process it.
ST. LOUIS — Everyone will grieve and process the video that captured the gruesome beating that led to the death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis differently, including police officers.
Sgt. Donnell Walters with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and president of the Ethical Society of Police, told 5 On Your Side Saturday he was devastated by the lack of accountability and regard for human life in his line of work currently.
«Because I’m going to interject. I’m not going to let this happen on my watch but can’t be everywhere at every point,” Walters said.
The police officer, who has been in law enforcement 20 years, could not fathom watching five former Memphis Police officers tase, pepper spray and brutally beat 29-year-old Nichols during a traffic stop on Jan. 7.
“I don’t even want to acknowledge them as law enforcement right now because what they did is not under the color of law in my opinion,” Walters said.
The Ethical Society of Police was founded in 1972 by African American police officers to address race-based discrimination within the community and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
