Attorney Ben Crump Tyre Nichols Case Fact Sheet

 

Deceased: Tyre Nichols (29, black male, single, one child)

Date of Incident: January 7, 2023

Date of Death: January 10, 2023 

Location: Memphis, TN

Ben Crump Clients: RowVaughn Wells (Tyre’s Mother) & Tyre’s minor son (name/age?)

Co-Counsel: Romanucci Blandin Law – Antonio Romanucci

 

Video Footage

 

There are 4 known videos recorded on the evening of January 7, 2023, in Memphis, Tennessee. The videos can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/cityofmemphis 

• Video 1. A police-issued, body-worn camera near the intersection of Raines and Ross Rd.
• Videos 2, 3, & 4. Video footage at the second location, a residential neighborhood
• Video 2. From a pole camera, contains no audio
• Videos 3 & 4. Police-issued, body-worn camera videos

 

Incident Timeline

On January 7, 2023, Tyre Nichols was brutally beaten after a traffic stop by Memphis Police Department officers. The Memphis Police Department initially stated on January 8 that the traffic stop of Nichols was due to reckless driving, but later on January 27, the Memphis police chief stated that the footage showed no evidence of probable cause for the traffic stop. Following the traffic stop, an initial altercation ensued during which officers deployed pepper spray and a Taser. Nichols fled on foot, and within a short distance, a second altercation occurred when Memphis Police Officers caught up with him, then punched and kicked Nichols’s face, and hit his back with a baton. Media outlets reported that the footage did not show Nichols resisting or appearing to provoke officers during the beating. He was hospitalized in critical condition and ultimately died on January 10, 2023. 

The New York Times did a great article on Tyre’s life, interviewing his friends and going through his social media—the article can be found here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/us/tyre-nichols-memphis-sacramento.html

 

Memphis Police Officers Arrested

Charges Against All Officers

1. Second Degree Murder (T.C.A. 39-13-210)
   • Unlawfully and knowingly Killed Tyre Nichols.
2. Aggravated Assault – Acting in Concert (T.C.A. 39-13-102)
   • Acting in concert with each other caused serious bodily injury to Tyre Nichols.
3. Aggravated Kidnapping (T.C.A. 39-13-304)
   • Confined Tyre Nichols, substantially interfered with his liberty, and caused him to suffer bodily injury.
4. Official Misconduct (2 Counts) (T.C.A. 39-16-402)
   • While acting as public servants, refrained from performing an imposed duty as an LEO and intended to harm Tyre Nichols.
5. Official Oppression (T.C.A. 39-16-403)
   • While acting as public servants, acting under the color of office or employment, unlawfully and intentionally subjected Tyre Nichols to mistreatment or arrest, detention, and stop.

The five officers involved—Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, and Justin Smith—were all terminated on Jan. 18 and are scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 17. Since officials released the graphic footage of Nichols’ fatal beatdown Friday, civil rights activists, including George Floyd and now Nichols’ family attorney Ben Crump and Al Sharpton have discussed working with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and others to reintroduce the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to end qualified immunity for police officers.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 aims to combat police misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias in policing.

 

Next Steps

1. Open Probate
2. Obtain complete Body Cam and Police Car Cam videos from all officers on the scene
3. Radio calls for all officers on the scene
4. Police Report from all officers (main and supplemental)
5. 911 Calls
6. EMS Records
7. Hospital Records, so far.
8. Internal Investigation Report
9. Arrest Reports
10. Witness Statements
11. Hire Use of Force Expert/s

 

Notable Quotes

“As I’ve said, I believe it’s part of the institutionalized police culture that makes it somehow allowed that they can use this type of excessive force and brutality against people of color,” Crump said. “And it doesn’t matter if the officers are Black, Hispanic, or white, it’s part of the culture, this biased culture that said this is allowed. And so just as much as those officers are responsible for the death of Tyre Nichols, so is the implicit, biased police culture that exists in America.” 

—Ben Crump, Notable Civil Rights Attorney
representing the Nichols family

 

“The fact that we saw that these individuals, these five individuals, did not have any respect for life. And again, I don’t think that these five guys represent the vast, vast majority of law enforcement. But I don’t think that there’s anything we can do to stop the type of evil we saw in that video.”

—Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio & ranking
member of the House Judiciary Committee

 

“And so, knowing that we have these biases that we all carry around with us, and when we talk about the implicit bias trainers and things, it’s not—no training is going to—to completely dissipate someone’s bias that they have in them. You know, what we’re hoping individuals can learn is identifying their biases, so they learn better to work within them to whether they’re not having a negative impact on somebody else. And we have to take that emotion that we’re all dealing with right now, and we have to turn that into fuel and fuel that will lead us to see some change in this country.”

—Jason Armstrong, current police chief of Apex, North Carolina,
formerly Ferguson, Missouri’s sixth chief in seven years

 

“Police departments have to take the screening process of candidates to be police officers seriously and not rush to hire officers that might not be qualified.”

After it was reported that two of the five Memphis police officers fired and charged with fatally beating Tyre Nichols were hired after the department loosened its hiring requirements, highlighting concerns that police departments should not rush to fill open positions with people who might not be qualified.

—Mike Alcazar, retired NYPD detective, now an
adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

 

“Black cops are often socialized in police departments that view certain neighborhoods as war zones. In those departments, few officers get disciplined for dishing out ‘street justice’ in certain precincts—often populated by Black, brown, or low-income people—where there is a tacit understanding that the ‘rulebook’ simply doesn’t apply. Cops of all colors, including Black police officers, internalize those messages—and sometimes act on them.”

—Van Jones, CNN commentator

 

“I need so many people to understand this regarding Tyre Nichols. Several of the police officers who murdered Freddie Gray were Black. The entire system of policing is based on white supremacist violence. We see people under the boot of oppression carry its water all the time.”

—Jemele Hill, writer for The Atlantic