As dozens rally for Tyre Nichols, Baltimore family seeks to keep pressure on local case

As dozens rallied here and local and state leaders expressed outrage over the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Danielle Brown stood in front of the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office with a plea: Don’t forget my son.

Donnell Rochester was 18 years old when he tried to drive away from Baltimore police officers and was fatally shot last February. The investigation languished for almost a year until new State’s Attorney Ivan Bates cleared the officers earlier this month and declined to press charges. A review by the Attorney General’s Office independent investigation unit said charges could have been brought, but also noted mitigating factors.

Brown said she’s not ready to give up on her son’s case and hopes people can channel their frustration over what happened in Memphis into local causes.

“My heart does go out to the young man that lost his life in Memphis, and I see the city of Baltimore is upset,” she said. “But we need to focus on the police brutality that’s happening here, with Donnell and a lot of others, in Baltimore City.”

Memphis Police released more than an hour of video footage Friday evening that shows officers holding the 29-year-old FedEx worker down and beating him repeatedly as he called for his mother. Five Memphis police officers were fired and charged in connection with the Jan. 7 incident.

The former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — each face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

At another event on Saturday, about 60 people gathered in North Baltimore at a rally organized by People’s Power Assembly, some holding signs that read, “Fund people’s need not the police” and ”Abolish racist police system.”

“Terrorizing innocent people and using your power and abusing your power is criminal, and it’s even worse when you’re a police officer,” said Baltimore County resident Ronda Cooperstein. ”There’s gotta be consequences for police — it’s not gonna happen unless massive numbers of people make it happen.”

“We need police reform. Period,” said the Rev. Annie Chambers, 81, a longtime activist and former Black Panther. “I am not one of those people that [say we] don’t need police; we do. We need to train police and hold them accountable. They have never been held accountable for all they do.”

West Baltimore neighborhood leader Marvin “Doc” Cheatham decried not just the police violence — but violence that persists in Baltimore.

“Take these damn guns out of your houses,” Cheatham said. “Kids are killing each other. We need police reform, but we also need parental reform, too.”

Tawanda Jones, whose brother, Tyrone West, died in Baltimore Police custody in 2013, said she continues to fight for reforms.

“I’m still working at it,” she said. “I feel like until we abolish officers’ bill of rights, qualified immunity brings havoc in our community. It’s disgusting.”

In a joint statement with other local leaders, including Bates, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said Nichols’ death was “a stark reminder of the brutality that Black people continue to face daily in this country and how much work remains for us to value Black American lives.”

That didn’t sit well with Rochester’s family and their supporters.

“How can you sit there and make a statement about what happened in Memphis when one of your own citizens [was killed] and you don’t make a statement, you don’t say anything to the family, no condolences, anything? It’s a slap in the face,” said Brown, Rochester’s mother.

Late Saturday, responding to a request from the Banner, the mayor’s office sent this statement: “Mayor Scott expresses his deepest condolences to the Rochester family for their loss and acknowledges that the outcome of the court case has left them feeling that justice was not served. He understands that this has been a deeply traumatic experience for our entire community. In accordance with the Consent Decree, the incident was thoroughly investigated by both the Attorney General’s Office and the Baltimore Police Department. We take all incidents of this nature very seriously and will continue to work towards ensuring accountability and transparency in our justice system.”

Rochester’s supporters say they are planning a rally for Thursday at 4 p.m. in front of the State’s Attorney’s Office to continue to call attention to his case.

Officers were attempting to arrest Rochester on a probation violation warrant when he ran, got into a car, and attempted to drive away. Officer Connor Murray, who was standing in the middle of the street about 20 feet in front of the car, shot three times, dodged the car and then fired again, hitting Rochester in the right triceps and upper chest, according to the report.

Bates said his office “could not ethically bring this case to court, given the circumstances in which these officers discharged their weapons,” saying that Rochester failed to comply with police and created a life-threatening situation when he drove at Murray.

But the attorney general’s report says that after Murray stepped out of the vehicle’s path, Rochester “no longer posed a threat to Officer Murray, and Officer Murray had no reason to believe that Mr. Rochester posed a threat to any other officer or civilian.” No one else was in the path of Rochester’s vehicle, and officers had no reason to believe that he was armed or “otherwise imminently dangerous,” the report says.

The report goes on to say that the law recognizes that officers are often forced to make split-second decisions and that Murray undoubtedly found himself in a “tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving” situation, making it unclear whether a judge or jury would give him leeway in the case.

Brown said the report supports her contention that her son should not have been killed. “It clearly states he [Murray] was no longer in danger and was no longer a threat.”

A Bates staff member walked outside just prior to the news conference, and told Brown that the decision not to charge the officers had been made by prosecutors in October while Marilyn Mosby was the state’s attorney, but that she failed to take action and tied Bates’ hands.

Kinji Scott, an activist who attends the same church as Rochester’s family, said Bates was “passing the buck.”

“We have our city officials who want to put themselves in Memphis’ business, don’t have nothing to do with them,” said Rochester’s aunt, Markia Jackson. “They need to take notes [from Memphis] on how to handle these bad officers.”

This story was updated to correct the spelling of Tawanda Jones' name, as well as the last name of Donnell Rochester's mother.

justin.fenton@thebaltimorebanner.com

kaitlin.newman@thebaltimorebanner.com