Tyre Nichols will be eulogized on Wednesday morning by Rev. Al Sharpton at a funeral service at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis.
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris will also attend the funeral for Nichols, the Black man who died three days after Memphis police officers savagely beat him following a traffic stop earlier this month, the White House said on Tuesday.
Family members of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, who were killed by police in in 2020 in Kentucky and Minnesota, will also attend.
The service is expected to get underway at 11:30 a.m. ET.
Nichols was the youngest of the family, born 12 years after his closest siblings. He had a four-year-old son, his family has said.
Nichols, 29, grew up in Sacramento, Calif., but came to Memphis just before the coronavirus pandemic.
A skateboarder and amateur photographer who worked making boxes at FedEx, died three days after the Jan. 7 attack.
‘Everybody loved him’
Friends at a memorial service last week described him as joyful and kind, quick with a smile, often silly.
“This man walked into a room, and everyone loved him,” said Angelina Paxton, a friend who travelled to Memphis from California for the memorial service.
LISTEN | Tyre Nichols’s death and the cycle of police violence:
Front Burner29:49Tyre Nichols’s death and the cycle of police violence
Meanwhile, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said on Tuesday that prosecutors could bring more criminal charges against police officers and others in connection with Nichols’s fatal beating, after mounting criticism over how Mulroy’s office and the Memphis Police Department have handled the case.
Five officers, all Black, were charged last week with second-degree murder and dismissed from the force. The department confirmed on Monday that a sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, had been suspended from duty soon after the incident but has not been criminally charged.
After video footage of the deadly encounter with police was made public on Friday, calls have grown louder for local police officials and prosecutors to be more transparent about the circumstances of the incident, given that the initial police reports do not match what was seen on the videos.
More first responders could be charged
In a statement on Twitter, Mulroy said other officers, fire department personnel and others who prepared documentation of the incident may also face criminal charges as more information becomes available.
“We are looking at all individuals involved in the events leading up to, during and after the beating of Tyre Nichols,” his office said, noting that the investigation is incomplete.
A seventh officer who was not immediately identified was also relieved of duty without pay, the department said on Monday, and that officer has not been charged. His role in the incident has not been disclosed.
WATCH | Images of Black people dehumanized are daunting for community members, says professor:
University of Memphis sociology professor Darron Smith says the body-camera footage of Tyre Nichols being beaten by police can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms for Black Americans who watch the video.
Three members of the Memphis Fire Department who responded to the altercation were dismissed on Monday after investigators found Nichols was left handcuffed on the ground without medical attention for nearly 15 minutes after the beating.
Police Chief Cerelyn Davis has said an unspecified number of officers besides the five initially charged remain under investigation for policy infractions stemming from Nichols’s arrest.
