Revisiting the Tyre Nichols Case as Trial Begins

Three officers involved in the fatal encounter with Tyre Nichols, a young Black man in Tennessee who was beaten to death at a traffic stop in 2023, are on trial as the federal case commences.  

Former police officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith have been charged with multiple counts, including willfully depriving Nichols of his right to be free from the use of excessive force and failure to intervene in the attack, deliberate indifference, conspiracy to cover up, and obstruction charges. They have pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Two former officers who were also indicted have taken a plea deal and pleaded guilty to some of the charges. 

“Tyre Nichols should be alive today,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a press release when the charges were announced in September 2023. “It is tragic to see a life cut short at 29, with so many milestones unmet, so many words unsaid, so much potential unfulfilled.” 

The attack against Nichols was a flashpoint in the country, with many activist groups using his death as a way to point to the broader issue of violence by police against communities of color, and especially Black people. All five police officers charged in the case are Black. 

Nichols’ family is being represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who also worked on the cases of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. 

With jury selection beginning on Sept. 9, here’s what to know about the case. 

What happened?

On Jan. 7, 2023, police officers approached Nichols to make a traffic stop for reckless driving, the Memphis Police Department wrote in a statement. (The Memphis’ police chief later said they were not able to substantiate the reason why Nichols was pulled over.)  Officers say that because Nichols attempted to run from them, a “confrontation occurred,” and the police said that Nichols later “complained of having a shortness of breath.” 

In the bodycam and surveillance video of the attack, which was released on Jan. 27, 2023, Nichols is heard crying for his mother and repeatedly saying “I didn’t do anything,” while officers pulled him out of his car. Officers then pinned him down and pepper sprayed him, but Nichols attempted to flee from police on foot until they apprehended him near his mother’s home. Officers then beat him with a baton several times; he did not appear to fight back. 

Read More: The Tyre Nichols Videos Demand Solemnity, Not Sensationalism

Nichols was taken to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition, according to the police statement. He died three days later in what an autopsy ruled a homicide due to the blunt force in the attack. 

Charges against the officers 

Five police officers involved in the fatal arrest were indicted on Sept. 12, 2023. Those officers had all been fired on Jan. 20, 2023. Other Memphis Police Department employees also lost their jobs over the incident, though some were only administratively charged, per the Associated Press. 

The five former officers faced four federal charges. They were charged with infringing on Nichols’ right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer, and failure to intervene in the assault. This first count also says that this “offense resulted in bodily injury and the death of Nichols,” according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee. 

The men also faced charges for violating “Nichols’ right to be free from a law enforcement officer’s deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs,” conspiring to cover up their unlawful actions by providing misleading and false information, and obstruction. The first two counts have a maximum sentence of life in prison, while the remaining two could lead to up to 20 years of imprisonment, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. 

Two of the former officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty and could testify in the federal trial. A sentencing hearing is set to occur on Dec. 5.  The other three pleaded not guilty and are now facing trial.

The federal trial isn’t the only case to result from Nichols’ death. There will be a separate trial on state charges for which the five officers were charged with second-degree murder. Mills agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and Martin is also expected to plead guilty to state charges, according to NPR. Nichols’ family also filed a $550 million lawsuit against the city of Memphis and its police department. 

Who was Tyre Nichols?

Nichols, 29, was father to a four-year-old son. Born in Sacramento, California, Nichols moved to Memphis in 2020, where he worked for FedEx. His family described him as a “cheerful” person who loved watching sunsets at Shelby Farms Park. 

Read More: How Skateboarding Shaped Tyre Nichols

Nichols had a tattoo of his mother’s name on his arm and loved skateboarding. He was also an aspiring photographer. “My vision is to bring my viewers deep into what i [sic] am seeing through my eye and out through my lens,” he wrote on his website. “People have a story to tell why not capture it instead of doing the ‘norm’ and writing it down or speaking it. I hope to one day let people see what i [sic] see,” he said on his website. 

Public response

The fatal beating of Nichols saddened and outraged the country, and spurred protests and public calls for police reform.   

In July 2023, the Department of Justice announced it would open a pattern or practice investigation into the Memphis Police Department and the city following the death of Nichols. It was the ninth time the Department opened an investigation into law enforcement misconduct under the Biden Administration, per the Justice Department. 

In 2023, the Memphis Police Department announced it was shutting down the Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods (SCORPION) unit, which was in charge of dealing with increasing crime in Memphis—all five police officers were part of the unit—one day after video footage of the brutal beating against Nichols went public. 

“In the process of listening intently to the family of Tyre Nichols, community leaders, and the uninvolved officers who have done quality work in their assignments, it is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the SCORPION unit,” the Memphis Police Department said in a statement. “While the heinous actions of a few casts a cloud of dishonor on the title SCORPION, it is imperative that we, the Memphis Police Department, take proactive steps in the healing process for all impacted.”  

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is currently the Democratic nominee for president, gave remarks at the memorial service for Tyre Nichols. “We mourn with you, and the people of our country mourn with you,” she said in February 2023. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, called the attack against Nichols “terrible.” “He was in such trouble. He was just being pummeled. Now that should never have happened,” Trump told the Associated Press in January 2023.