Trial Over Tyre Nichols’ Death Begins In Memphis

The federal trial over the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died after law enforcement officers beat him following a traffic stop in January 2023, begins Monday in Memphis.

Former Memphis Police Department officers Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Demetrius Haley could face life in prison if convicted on federal civil rights and conspiracy charges. In the lead-up to the trial, two other officers, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the incident. Mills faces a 15-year sentence, while prosecutors are seeking up to 40 years for Martin.

Bean, Smith, Haley and Martin all face several state-level charges as well, including second-degree murder. Mills agreed to plead guilty to state-level charges last year.

Jury selection begins Monday. RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, Nichols’ parents, told HuffPost they plan to be in the courtroom when opening arguments begin, and that the approach to the trial has been challenging for their family. They said they set up a call to share a prayer with a local pastor on Sunday evening.

“We have been dealing with this since it happened. The community of Memphis has been very gracious to us. We have been able to go out and do things like normal, but as things get closer — we started to stay in more because the feelings and everything else are about to pop back up and resurface,” RowVaughn Wells said.

Nichols was sitting in his car at a traffic light when Memphis police cars surrounded him and demanded he get out of the vehicle without indicating what he was being stopped for, according to body-worn camera footage. Police initially said they had pulled Nichols over for reckless driving, but Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis later said the department was unable to verify the reason he was pulled over.

Officers pulled Nichols from his vehicle. He then fled on foot while police chased him to a neighborhood where his parents’ home was located.

Footage released by the City of Memphis showed officers taking turns punching and kicking Nichols, shocking him with a Taser and making threatening remarks. Officers and other medical personnel who arrived at the scene failed to render aid to Nichols for 19 minutes after they arrived as he lay on the ground bleeding.

Nichols died in the hospital three days later.

Three Memphis Fire Department employees were fired and had their licenses suspended for not giving aid to Nichols in a timely manner. A Memphis police officer, Preston Hemphill, was fired after he shocked Nichols with a Taser and was heard making statements encouraging officers to beat Nichols.

Van Turner, an attorney and former president of the Memphis NAACP, said the trial can finally begin the healing process the city needs. He said he sees Martin and Mills pleading guilty as a positive development.

“I think that we have to get it right, and much like what occurred with the assassination of Dr. King here in ’68, the world’s eyes are on Memphis. Hopefully, at the conclusion at this trial, there will be a period of reconciliation, a period of healing and a period of going forward with best practices in the Memphis Police Department,” Turner told HuffPost.

“Black lives really do matter, and even in the hands of other Black police officers, there is a system in place that appears to say it is OK to ill treat individuals who are Black and brown, and are innocent,” he added. “We need to change that narrative no matter who they are or what they look like.”

Amber Sherman, a local activist who pushed for changes in policing following Nichols’ death, told HuffPost the federal trial will not solve the city’s broader issues. Sherman and other activists are pushing for police to not be involved in traffic stops or wellness checks for people with mental health issues.

“We don’t believe that a federal trial against those police officers is going to solve our problems,” she said. “It is more important that we are working to dismantle systems that are causing the police to have that amount of power over Black people.”

The Memphis City Council did pass some police reform measures impacting how officers would handle traffic stops, but Tennessee’s Republican-dominated Senate passed legislation that blocked the reform just months later.

Nichols’ family expressed support for state and federal police reform bills, though nothing can change what they have gone through.

“There will never be closure, as far as I’m concerned,” RowVaughn Wells said. “There will be justice served, but there will never be closure when it comes to my son.”