27 January 2023
Video of the traffic stop that preceded Nichols’ death will be publicly released after 6 p.m. (CT).
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The attorneys and family of Tyre Nichols asked for justice for their son, and peace in their city, at a press conference in Memphis on Friday.
Speakers included family members, attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci and Van Turner, president of the Memphis branch NAACP.
Crump noted that charges were brought up against the officers by the district attorney within 20 days. Similar past cases across the country have taken months to move forward. Crump said this should be the blueprint for police-involved shootings going forward.
“We have never seen swift justice like this,” Crump said.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Police Director C J. Davis told WREG’s Live at Nine there will be a review of all police Special Units, like the Scorpion Unit.
“Now, we are focused on the many city employees who may have done something wrong or failed to do something right and those are gonna be dealt with relatively swiftly also,” Mayor Strickland said. “Because obviously these men violated policy, violated their training, the extra training they got. Violated state criminal law. But, is there anything we can do differently because we have to do everything we can to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Turner said Friday night is likely to be one of the toughest nights the city has ever experienced.
Nichols, 29, died Jan. 10, three days after a traffic stop and chase near his home in the Hickory Hill neighborhood that ended with Nichols in a hospital on life support.
Video from the incident is expected to be released to the public sometime after 6 p.m. (CT). Check back this evening.
Five Memphis Police officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith — were fired for misconduct, and indicted by a grand jury Thursday and taken into custody.
Each is charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct and official oppression. By Friday morning, they had posted bond.
Rodney Wells, Tyre Nichols’ stepfather, said that he initially wanted first-degree murder charges against the officers, but the family is satisfied with second-degree murder.
He pleaded for peace in Memphis Friday night.
“We want peace. We do not want any type of uproar. We do not want any type of disturbance,” Wells said. “Please, please, protest, but protest safely.”
RowVaughn Wells, Tyre Nichols’ mother said she had not seen the video and recommended that no one’s children view it.
“You have no clue how I feel right now,” she said. She noted that her son died, a few feet from her house, calling out for her. “No mother should ever have to go through what I’m going through right now.”
“He always said he was going to be famous one day. I didn’t know it would be like this,” she said.