Citing Tyre Nichols’ dying, Sen. Corey Booker calls on Congress to revisit police reform

Tyre Nichols’ horrifying dying by the hands of Memphis cops might compel Congress to go stalled police reform laws, Sen. Corey Booker stated Sunday, although he acknowledged it’s prone to be arduous with the Home of Representatives in Republican management.

The feedback got here after he and different Democratic lawmakers met with President Biden on Thursday to debate a legislative response to Nichols’ January dying and quite a few incidents prefer it.

“I feel there’s a pathway ahead, although I’m very sobered in a divided Congress about our capacity to get it completed,” Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, stated on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

The 2020 killing of Black Minnesota man George Floyd by a white police officer prompted the Home to go a invoice named after him. It will have banned cop chokeholds and ended “certified immunity,” which protects officers from sure sorts of lawsuits.

However because the invoice floundered within the Senate, Biden signed an government order with far more modest police reforms.

Particulars are but to emerge from Thursday’s assembly on the White Home, which featured Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).

However pressed Sunday, Booker voiced optimism over a current tweet from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that appeared to assist ending certified immunity.

“I oppose civil lawsuits towards particular person officers,” Graham tweeted Jan. 29. “Nonetheless, holding police departments accountable is sensible and they need to face legal responsibility for the misconduct of their officers.”

Booker stated he’s had conversations with politicians together with Graham since formal discussions on the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act” floor to a halt.

“I’m pleased that I’ve Republican colleagues that agree that is mistaken,” the Backyard State senator stated of caught-on-camera police killings, “and we’re attempting to work one thing out.”

With Information Wire Providers