Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died after being beaten by Memphis police, was allegedly pulled over for reckless driving. However, some activists and advocates have stated that not only was Nichols likely not driving erratically but that the conduct of the police after pulling him over was unacceptable.
Memphis officials have been evasive regarding the details of Tyre’s encounter with police on January 7. After the police brutally beat him, he was hospitalized in critical condition for three days. He eventually died from his injuries. The police now plan to release footage of the incident Friday evening. What happens next?
Police Chief Calls Stop “Questionable”
Police have stated that Nichols fled on foot after being pulled over and that a “confrontation” ensued. While the police usually present a unified front when accused of brutality, Memphis’s police chief CJ Davis told reporters that she found the evidence for the reckless driving stop “questionable.” She noted that after reviewing the footage, she saw little evidence that supported the stop.
“It doesn’t mean that something didn’t happen. But there’s no proof. The cameras didn’t pick up,” Davis noted in a televised interview. “As far as I know today, I do believe that the stop itself was very questionable,” she went on in another interview.
Nichols’ Family Asks for Peaceful Protests
Nichols’ family was offered a private viewing of the footage Friday morning. His mother, RowVaughn Wells, reportedly watched only a minute of the footage before leaving the room. “Our family is grief-stricken right now and this is very hard to swallow,” Wells told a gathered crowd at a vigil for Nichols on Thursday evening.
Wells publicly urged the people of Memphis to remain peaceful after the video is made public. “I don’t want us burning up our cities, tearing up the streets, because that’s not what my son stood for,” she insisted.
Family Attorney Draws Parallels to Rodney King
The family’s attorney, the well-known lawyer Ben Crump, drew parallels between Nichols’ case and similar incidents of Black people dying after encountering the police. He noted that the video reminded him of the 1991 video of Rodney King being beaten by LAPD officers.
“What we can tell you about the video: It is appalling, it is deplorable, it is heinous … violent,” Crump told reporters. “And it’s very troublesome on every level, because you have to ask yourself, yet again, we’re seeing evidence of what happens to Black and brown people from simple traffic stops.”
