Retired Dallas police officer Dr. Pennie accuses White House of 'exploiting' Tyre Nichols' death
Retired NYPD inspector Alison Esposito, retired Dallas police officer Dr. Tre Pennie, and FOP National Vice President Joe Gamaldi joined 'Fox & Friends' to discuss the debate over policing in America following the death of Tyre Nichols.
A retired Dallas police officer attacked the left's renewed push for police reform amid the fallout surrounding the tragic death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols.
Dr. Tre Pennie slammed the White House Wednesday ahead of Nichols' funeral – which will be attended by Vice President Kamala Harris – and accused the administration of "exploiting" the death for political purposes in the left's bid to dismantle law enforcement funding.
"I'm disgusted that the White House would exploit this family's pain at the expense of law enforcement," Pennie told Ainsley Earhardt. "They know, like I know, that the White House and Joe Biden don't give a damn about the Black community and law enforcement are the only ones out in these communities trying to keep the community safe."
TYRE NICHOLS INVESTIGATION: DISTRICT ATTORNEY SAYS 'THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO INTENT TO PROTECT ANYBODY'
This photo provided by the Nichols family shows Tyre Nichols, who had a passion for photography and was described by friends as joyful and lovable. Nichols was just minutes from his home in Memphis, Tenn., on Jan. 7, 2023, when he was pulled over by police and fatally beaten. Five Memphis police officers have since been charged with second-degree murder and other offenses. (Courtesy of the Nichols family via AP)
"The bottom line is, if we continue to allow them to push this George Floyd bill through, they're going to render law enforcement ineffective," he continued. "Law enforcement's going to face higher rates of criminal prosecution, have to defend themselves civilly against civil litigation. And most importantly, the DOJ is going to plant a stake in every law enforcement agency across this country, and police officers won't be able to do anything."
Nichols family attorney Ben Crump, who also leads the Floyd family legal team, has urged Biden to re-engage Congress to pass federal law enforcement reform in the wake of the 29-year-old's death.
"Shame on us if we don’t use his tragic death to finally get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed," Crump told CNN Sunday. "We told President Biden that when he talked to us."
Nichols was brutally beaten earlier this month in Memphis by five Black officers during a traffic stop, and died at the hospital three days later.
The officers involved, who are accused of killing him, face second-degree murder charges, among others. The cause of death has yet to be released.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump speaks at a news conference with the family of Tyre Nichols, who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers, as RowVaughn Wells, mother of Tyre, right, and Tyre's stepfather Rodney Wells, along with attorney Tony Romanucci, left, also stand with Crump, in Memphis, Tenn., Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Memphis PD released the shocking bodycam video from the night of Jan. 7, which shows the officers beating, tasing, kicking and pepper spraying Nichols while he was on the ground.
The brutal incident ignited a renewed nationwide dialogue surrounding policing in America, and how reforms would best take shape to prevent another tragedy.
TYRE NICHOLS DEATH: LAW ENFORCEMENT GROUP 'INFURIATED' BY ALLEGED ASSAULT DURING TRAFFIC STOP
Retired NYPD inspector Alison Esposito noted law enforcement can always "strive to do something better," but sufficient funding is necessary to provide versatile training to keep officers up-to-date on policies and procedures.
"We're asking them to wear so many hats, but we're not giving them the training and the resources to make these split-second decisions," Esposito said Wednesday. "We have officers that are tasked with doing amazingly scary things, amazingly great things on a day-to-day basis, and this is why we can't defund our police."
"We have to fund them to give them the training, the resources, and the tools necessary to do the job that we need them to do with the compassion that we demand from them," she continued.
Fraternal Order of Police National Vice President Joe Gamaldi echoed Esposito's sentiment, reiterating the need for money and time to allow the changes to take effect in the field, all while the industry faces unprecedented staffing shortages.
"We always want more training for law enforcement, but that comes at a price. It costs money, and yet we still have people like AOC and her cronies asking to defund the police," Gamaldi said. "It also takes time. We have to pull the officers off the street in order to train them, and we're in the worst staffing crisis that we've ever seen in law enforcement… Applications are down across the board in Chicago, down 82%. In New Jersey, they're down 90%. 78% of the agencies right now cannot find qualified applicants."
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As a result, Gamaldi argued departments nationwide are faced with a choice – to either lower their hiring standards, or respond to fewer calls in the community as they battle these challenges.
"What's happening is we're hiring people that would not have been a police officer just a few short years ago, and that only exacerbates the problem because the decisions they make are ultimately going to impact our profession as we try to build trust with our community," he said.
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