Ben Crump, the attorney for the family of Tire Nichols, called on Congress to pass federal police legislation in the death of a 29-year-old man who was beaten by police after a traffic stop in Memphis, Tenn. .
“Shame on us if we don’t use his untimely death to end the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act,” Crump, who is also leading the Floyd family’s legal team, told Today It was on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We told President Biden when he spoke to us.”
Crump put the onus on Biden to push for police reform, saying the president should “take control of the United States Senate … try to rebuild the House.”
The George Floyd Justice in Police Act was introduced in 2021 after Floyd died in Minnesota at the hands of the police. It passed the Democratic-controlled House, but talks for a deal in the Senate collapsed.
Crump on Sunday emphasized the fact that federal leaders have not moved to repeal police reform for years, even as cases of violent deaths at the hands of the law continue to emerge.
“It didn’t happen to Rodney King, it didn’t happen to Michael Brown in Ferguson and it didn’t happen to George Floyd,” Crump said. “How many of these incidents do we have to see on video before we say we have a problem, America?”
The White House last week called for police reform, but Democrats hold a majority in the Senate and Republicans hold a majority in the House, reducing the possibility. to pass police reform in this Congress.