State bill will nullify ordinances passed in Memphis in response to Tyre Nichols’ death
MEMPHIS, Tenn. –– The family of Tyre Nichols responded to Tennessee senators voting to pass SB2572. The proposed state legislation that will be sent to the Governor Bill Lee’s desk threatens to reverse and override critical municipal police reforms enacted in response to Tyre Nichols’ tragic death.
Mr. and Mrs. Wells met with State Senator Brent Taylor to ask him to delay the vote so that they could meet with local government and law enforcement officials and attempt to find a compromise. Mr. and Mrs. Wells were unable to get through to Sen. Brent, as he brought the bill up for a vote shortly after.
RowVaughn and Rodney Wells released the following statement:
“The city of Memphis worked tirelessly to get ordinances passed in Tyre’s name, so this bill hurts us deeply. Local Memphis leaders tried to speak with the state legislators pushing for this legislation, but they were brushed off –– as were we.
“This legislation was clearly targeted to take down the ordinances named after our son, and while we miss him dearly, this is about so much more than Tyre. There are many other Memphians that have experienced pretextual stops with police that ended with violence. Our goal was to create something in Memphis that could protect our community, but even after doing so, our success is fleeting.
“We wish that instead of this political sabotage, we could have come together to discuss what is working and what isn’t. Compromise could have happened, but we were never given the opportunity to try.”
If signed by the Governor, the legislation would nullify ordinances passed in Memphis in response to Tyre Nichols’ death. The ordinances passed were:
- Data Transparency Act: Requires that traffic data is published in real time every month and that officers collect that data during traffic stops.
- Tyre Nichols Driving Equality Act: Prevents the 5 most common pretextual stops from being used as a 1st violation by police to pull someone over. This bill was named after Tyre Nichols because a pretextual stop led to his death.
- Unmarked car usage: Requires that unmarked cars not be used for traffic stops.
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