FUNERAL HELD FOR MAN KILLED BY POLICE IN MEMPHIS

MEMPHIS, TENN. Family and friends of Tyre Nichols gathered in a Memphis church on Wednesday to pay their final respects to the Black 29-year-old father whose fatal encounter with police last month transformed him into the new face of the U.S. racial justice movement.

Speaking over a flower-bedecked casket at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, preachers recalled a young man who loved photography and skateboarding, and demanded justice for Nichols.

The relatives of other Black people killed by police in cities across the United States came to offer comfort to Nichols' family, including a woman from Texas whose son was killed by a Houston police officer, who sang before a black-clad gospel choir.

Vice-President Kamala Harris attended the service. The Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights leader, was due to eulogize Nichols.

Nichols died on Jan. 10 from injuries he sustained three days earlier when beaten by Memphis police who pulled him over. The Memphis Police Department fired five of the officers, who also are Black. Prosecutors charged them with second-degree murder.

Two other officers have been relieved of duty — effectively suspended — and are under investigation. Two paramedics and their on-scene supervisor were dismissed on Monday, while two Shelby County sheriff's deputies have been suspended.