Killing of Tyre Nichols


On January 7, 2023, Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old black man, was fatally injured by five black police officers in Memphis, Tennessee, and died three days later. The officers, all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit, pulled Nichols from his car before pepper spraying and tasering him. Nichols broke free and ran toward his mother's house, which was less than a mile away. The officers caught up with Nichols near the house, where they punched, kicked and pepper sprayed him and struck him with a baton. Medics called to the scene did not administer emergency care until 16 minutes after arriving. Nichols was admitted to the hospital in critical condition.
The officers reported that they stopped Nichols for reckless driving. The MPD released four edited video clips from police body cameras and a nearby pole-mounted camera. MPD Police Chief Cerelyn J. Davis later stated that the department had reviewed camera footage and could not find any evidence of probable cause for the traffic stop.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of Justice both opened investigations into the incident. The autopsy determined the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head, and the manner of death as homicide.
The five officers who assaulted Nichols were discharged from the MPD, effective January 8, 2023. They were arrested and charged on January 26 with second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, official misconduct, and official oppression. A sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, who was white and present at the initial traffic stop, was also fired from the MPD in February 2023 for violating "multiple department policies" but was not criminally charged after prosecutors determined he was not present at the scene where Nichols suffered his fatal injuries. Three of the officers have pleaded not guilty to the charges. One officer, Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty to federal charges of deprivation of rights and conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors on November 2, 2023. Another officer, Emmitt Martin III, who initially pleaded not guilty, changed his plea to guilty on August 23, 2024. The MPD has disciplined, relieved of duty, dismissed, or arrested thirteen officers regarding their conduct. Memphis Fire Services terminated three employees for their failure to evaluate or assist Nichols. After the release of the videos, widespread protests began on January 27.
The five officers involved were also charged with civil rights violations by federal authorities in connection with the killing. One of them, Mills, later pleaded guilty to these charges. Mills later agreed to plead guilty to all state charges as well, including murder. A second officer, Martin, pleaded guilty in August 2024. Martin would ultimately plead guilty to all states charges brought against him as well. On October 3, 2024, Haley was convicted of all four counts he was charged with, including civil rights deprivation related charges, while Bean and Smith would each be convicted of one lesser count related to witness tampering. Bean, Haley and Smith were acquitted of all state charges on May 7, 2025.

People involved

Tyre Nichols

Tyre Deandre Nichols was a 29-year-old black man. Nichols worked for FedEx and was a photographer with a photography website.
Nichols was raised in Sacramento, California, and moved to Memphis in February 2020. His mother is RowVaughn Wells. According to his family's attorney, Nichols was "almost impossibly slim" due to Crohn's disease, and weighed at a height of.

Police officers

The five black Memphis Police Department officers accused of beating Nichols in connection to the traffic stop each had two to six years of police experience. Four of the five officers were raised in the Memphis area.
  1. Tadarrius Bean, age 24, hired in August 2020.
  2. Demetrius Haley, age 30, hired in August 2020 ;
  3. Emmitt Martin III, age 30, hired in March 2018 ;
  4. Desmond Mills Jr., age 32, hired in March 2017.
  5. Justin Smith, age 28, hired in March 2018.
Four out of the five officers had prior disciplinary actions by MPD for various offences. All five were members of an MPD 30-person specialized hot spot policing unit known as SCORPION.

DeWayne Smith

Lt. DeWayne Smith, an officer with 25 years' experience, was a supervisor in the SCORPION unit on the scene at the time of Nichols' beating. Smith retired the day before an administrative hearing in which he was expected to be dismissed. Smith was subsequently considered for decertification, which bars police officers from working again in the jurisdiction that certified them. The documents accompanying the decertification request contended that Smith had failed to address Nichols' complaint that he could not breathe; failed to obtain reports from the police officers as to their use of force; told Nichols family that Nichols had been driving under the influence, despite a lack of information to support such a charge; and failed to wear a body camera, in violation of the police department's policy.
The MPD requested that the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission decertify Smith. It then asked to rescind that request, at which point POST asked the department for an explanation as to its reversal. In a news release, the MPD announced it would continue with the request, saying it had merely meant to ask for a delay and clarifying information as to whether an officer who resigned prior to termination could be decertified.

Preston Hemphill

Preston Hemphill, a white officer who was hired by the MPD in 2018, was identified as a sixth officer involved in the initial traffic stop. Hemphill was among the first officers to encounter Nichols during the January 7 traffic stop. He deployed his Taser during the confrontation and in his body camera video is seen chasing Nichols down the road, but then turns back to the scene of the initial traffic stop. Hemphill was heard on his body camera video saying twice, "I hope they stomp his ass," after Nichols fled the scene.
On January 30, 2023, the Memphis Police Department announced that Hemphill had been relieved of duty pending the outcome of an administrative investigation. On February 3, 2023, Hemphill was fired from the Memphis Police Department for violations including personal conduct, truthfulness, and a violation for not using the Taser in compliance with regulations. While on top of Nichols at the initial stop, Hemphill used the statement, "Get on the fucking ground. Finna tase yo ass," according to the police decertification letter Memphis Police sent to Tennessee's Peace Officer Standards & Training Commission.
On May 2, 2023, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced that Hemphill would not be criminally charged in connection with Nichols' death. Mulroy stated that the decision followed a "thorough investigation," including reviewing hours of body camera footage and interviewing witnesses. He noted that "by no means do we endorse the conduct of officer Hemphill at that first traffic stop," but explained that "Hemphill did not pursue Tyre Nichols and never left the initial scene," and was not involved in the second encounter where Nichols was brutally beaten by police. Hemphill was added to the department's Giglio list, which identifies law enforcement officers who have had sustained incidents of untruthfulness or other issues placing their credibility into question.
The Nichols family, through their attorney Ben Crump, stated they supported the decision not to press charges against Hemphill. Crump said in a statement: "It is our deepest hope and expectation that justice will be served fully, and that all who had a role to play in this senseless tragedy will be held accountable." Hemphill was also named in the $550 million civil lawsuit filed on behalf of Nichols' family.
Hemphill's attorney, Lee Gerald, stated that his client was cooperating with authorities in the investigation and expected that he would testify at trial in the case.

SCORPION Unit

SCORPION was assembled by Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn J. Davis, in October 2021, to deal with serious crimes; Davis disbanded SCORPION in the wake of Nichols' death. SCORPION unit officers drove unmarked cars and many dressed in plainclothes and wore bulletproof vests marked "Police".
SCORPION has been compared to the "RED DOG" unit Davis commanded in 2006 and 2007 as a member of the Atlanta Police Department in Atlanta, Georgia. Davis described the Red Dog as utilizing "aggressive crime fighting strategies in high crime areas citywide". The Red Dog unit was disbanded in 2011 after the city agreed to settle a lawsuit regarding excessive force by Red Dog officers. NBC News reported that a former member of the Atlanta Civilian Review Board said it should have been clear to Davis that a tactical unit like Scorpion was prone to violating people's rights in Memphis just as Red Dog did in Atlanta.

Traffic stop and death

Nichols was two minutes away from his home when he was stopped by MPD at 8:24p.m. on January7, 2023. Officers Haley, Martin, and Preston Hemphill conducted the initial stop of Nichols at the intersection of both East Raines Road and Ross Road near the Autumn Ridge neighborhood, with police vehicles surrounding his car on three sides. The body-worn camera footage released by the City of Memphis on January 27, does not "show any activity earlier than an officer responding to a stop in progress..."
Haley and Martin were at the traffic stop when Hemphill arrived at 8:24p.m. By 8:25p.m., Haley pulled Nichols out of his car as Nichols said: "I didn't do anything." An officer shouted: "Get on the fuckin' ground" and moments later an officer shouted "I'm gonna tase your ass." Officers pushed Nichols to the ground. At about 8:25:45 p.m., Nichols was lying on his side in the road – an officer had Nichols' left hand, a second officer had Nichols' right hand, a third officer held a taser against Nichols' left leg while also using his right hand to hold Nichols to the ground. From the moment that Nichols was pulled from the car, to being held on the ground, officers simultaneously yelled numerous commands, threats, expletives, and made "assaultive comments" at him. While being held on the ground an officer continued to yell for Nichols to lie down. Nichols responded "I am on the ground". An officer yelled back "Lay on your stomach". Moments later, Haley deployed pepper spray against Nichols, which hit several of the other officers. Nichols broke free and began to run. Hemphill, against regulations, deployed his taser at Nichols. At 8:26p.m., Nichols began running south on Ross Road, as he was pursued by at least two officers. Two more police units arrived at the scene around 8:29p.m. Footage showed that one officer who remained at the area of the traffic stop said, "I hope they stomp his ass".
At 8:33p.m., Officers Bean, Mills, and Smith caught up to Nichols and had him on the ground at Castlegate Lane and Bear Creek which is approximately a half a mile away from the original traffic stop. Footage from a pole-mounted CCTV camera showed an officer using his leg to push Nichols hard to the ground. Between 8:33p.m. and 8:36p.m. Nichols was punched, then pepper sprayed a second time, then kicked in the upper torso numerous times by a fourth officer, then an officer can be heard yelling "I'm going to baton the fuck out of you” before striking Nichols several times with a baton, then punched five times in the face by one officer. The video footage showed officers had control of Nichols' arms when he was struck with the baton, kicked, and successively punched in the face 5 times. A fifth officer arrived, as Nichols was on the ground and in the process of being handcuffed, and kicked him in the upper torso, which was followed by another kick to the upper torso by another officer. Fox News reported that in the videos, "Nichols can be heard calling out to his mother before police beat him into a daze". Nichols' conduct had been initially described as non-resisting and non-violent; there is no indication that he struck back at the officers.
By 8:37 p.m., Nichols was handcuffed and limp; officers propped him against the side of a police car. After Nichols was on the ground, the involved officers convened and shared their stories about the arrest. In the body-worn camera footage, Michael Ruiz of Fox News reported, "officers can be heard discussing his alleged driving, 'swerving' and nearly hitting one of them". One officer bragged: "I was hitting him with straight haymakers, dog", while another exclaimed: "I jumped in, started rocking him."
Medics arrived around 8:41 p.m. but did not begin to assist Nichols until 16minutes later. An ambulance from the Memphis Fire Department arrived at 9:02 p.m. and took Nichols to St. Francis Hospital at 9:18p.m. after he complained of shortness of breath.
On scene, video footage showed officers issued at least 71 commands over 13 minutes; The New York Times described the orders as "often simultaneous and contradictory" and "sometimes even impossible to obey". The Times cited one such example of many, where an officer shouted "Give me your fucking hands!" while Nichols had one officer pinning his arms behind his back, a second officer holding his handcuffed wrist, and a third officer punching Nichols' face. One former police officer described the officers' interaction with Nichols as having "started with poor communication" and going downhill from there. Nichols' family lawyers say that he was tortured to death by police officers.
On January 8, the department stated that the traffic stop of Nichols was due to reckless driving. On January 27, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn J. Davis stated that her department reviewed footage, including from body cameras regarding the traffic stop and the arrest, to "determine what that probable cause was and we have not been able to substantiate that...It doesn't mean that something didn't happen, but there's no proof." A subsequent search of Nichol's car by police found credit and debit cards that did not belong to Nichols.
Nichols died in the hospital three days later, on January 10.