Tyre Nichols’ Family Files Civil Lawsuit Against Memphis And Police Officers

The family of Tyre Nichols filed a federal $550 million lawsuit Wednesday (Apr. 19) against the city of Memphis and its police department.

Nichols was brutally punched and kicked by Memphis police officers following a traffic stop and a brief foot chase January 7. He was hospitalized and passed away three days later.

Tyre Nichols lawsuit

Filed by lawyers for Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, the lawsuit contends the fatal beating was the “direct and foreseeable product of the unconstitutional policies, practices, customs, and deliberate indifference of the City of Memphis” and its police officials.

“This has nothing to do with the monetary value of this lawsuit,” Wells told reporters. “But everything that has to do with accountability. Those five police officers murdered my son. They beat him to death and they need to be held accountable along with everyone else that has something to do with my son’s murder.”

The suit compared Nichols’ beating to the 1955 killing of Emmett Till, adding that — like Till — Nichols suffered a beating “endured at hands of a modern-day lynch mob.”

“Unlike Till, this lynching was carried out by those adorned in department sweatshirts and vests and their actions were sanctioned — expressly and implicitly — by the City of Memphis,” the suit said.

The lawsuit states Nichols arrived at a local hospital with no pulse, suffered cardiac arrest, and his face was “swollen to the point of being unrecognizable.”

The reasoning behind why Nichols was stopped in his car has “never been substantiated,” the lawsuit said. The officers then dragged Nichols out of his car, unleashed an inexcusable “frenzy of force” on him and acted like “a pack of wolves attempting to hunt down their wounded prey.”

Five police officers, who are also Black, were fired following an internal investigation and were indicted on criminal charges January 26.

Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr. each face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

From left: Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, Jr, Emmitt Martin III, Justin Smith and Tadarrius Bean (Memphis Police Department)

Second-degree murder in Tennessee is considered a Class A felony punishable by 15 to 60 years in prison.

Each have pled not guilty.

The five charged officers were part of the department’s specialized SCORPION unit, which was launched in 2021 to take on a rise in violent crime in Memphis.

The unit was permanently deactivated shortly after video of Nichols’ arrest was released in January, Memphis Police said.

“This landmark lawsuit is not only to get the justice for Tyre Nichols in the civil courts but it is also a message that is being sent to cities all across America who have these police oppression units that have been given the license by city leaders to go in and terrorize Black and brown communities,” attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Nichols family, said at a news conference.”