Washington - (AFP) - Five police officers have been charged with murder over the death of a black American in early January, days after his "horrific" arrest in the southern United States, according to the authorities.

Attorney General Steve Mulroy announced in a press conference that the five policemen, who are from Memphis, the largest city in the state of Tennessee, and are all African Americans, have been accused of murder, assault and even kidnapping.

In a statement Thursday, US President Joe Biden called for a "swift, full and transparent investigation" into this tragedy.

On January 7th, the cops wanted to arrest Tyre Nichols, 29, for a traffic violation and have since been removed from their duties.

The security forces explained at the time that while the policemen were approaching, “a confrontation took place” and “the suspect fled.” But Nichols was soon stopped but complained that he was having difficulty breathing and was admitted to hospital. He died three days later.

The details of this arrest are still unclear. There is a video clip showing the facts, but it has so far only been shown to the victim's relatives and their lawyers.

In Thursday's press conference, the authorities refused to accurately narrate the facts, based on the scenes.

But the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, David Rausch, considered that what happened was "unacceptable", "criminal" and "should not have happened", expressing his "shock" and "disgust" at what he saw. "In a word, it's absolutely horrific," he added.

Lawyers for the victim's family, including Ben Crump, who was the attorney for the family of black American George Floyd, who was also killed during his arrest in 2020, welcomed the charges against the two policemen. The lawyers said the news "gives us hope as we continue to demand justice for Tyre."

The video of the arrest will be published on Friday after 6:00 pm local time (midnight Saturday GMT).
The case caused an uproar in a country still affected by the killing of George Floyd in May 2020 and the demonstrations caused by this tragedy by the Black Lives Matter movement against racism and police violence.