‘He didn’t deserve to die’: Borough President Richards leads emotional candlelight vigil for Tyre Nichols

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Queens Borough President Donovan Richards held a candlelight vigil for Tyre Nichols outside Queens Borough Hall Monday, Jan. 30 after Nichols’ death at the hands of police officers in Memphis, Tenn., made national headlines for the brutality in which the officers beat him.

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The Queens community gathers at a vigil for Tyre Nichols outside Queens Borough Hall on Monday, Jan. 30. (Photo by Paul Frangipane)

Almost immediately after news broke about Nichols’ death, the Memphis police officers who beat him to death were fired and charged with murder. The police department released the body cam footage of the fatal beating on Jan. 27, but many people, including some at the vigil, have refused to watch it due to its extremely graphic nature.