Tyre Nichols Family Sue City of Memphis and Police Department Over Beating Death

Tyre Nichols seated leaning against a car during a attack by five Memphis police officers in Memphis, Tenn., on Jan. 7, 2023. City of Memphis via AP

The family of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old black man who died after being beaten by police officers in Memphis, Tennessee, during a traffic stop earlier this year, has filed a lawsuit against the city and the Memphis Police Department (MPD), seeking a jury trial and $550 million in damages.

Nichols was pulled over for alleged reckless driving. During the stop, Nichols and the responding officers had a “confrontation” after which Nichols fled. When the officers caught up with Nichols, they allegedly beat him. Nichols died in a hospital on Jan. 10, three days after sustaining injuries during his arrest.

The family and Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, have employed high-profile attorney Ben Crump, who also represented the family of George Floyd in a similar case. Crump said in a press conference Wednesday that this lawsuit is meant to set a precedent.

“[This is a] landmark lawsuit against the Memphis Police Department and the City of Memphis for the torture, savage, brutal, dehumanizing, extrajudicial killing of Tyre Nichols,” Crump 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 and terrorize black and brown communities—whether they be in Atlanta, Georgia; or New Orleans, Louisiana; or Chicago, Illinois; or Miami, Florida.”

The Lawsuit

The 139-page suit (pdf) alleges complicity from City of Memphis leaders as well as from MPD and its leadership.

The lawsuit, in particular, goes after the employment of the SCORPION (Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace in our Neighborhoods) unit in MPD and similar units that Crump said are also referred to as “jump out” units and “red dog” units.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump speaks at a news conference with the family of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tenn., on Jan. 23, 2023. Gerald Herbert/AP Photo

“Many of us in the black community know them as the jump-out boys,” he said. “Many of our white brothers and sisters have never heard of the jump-out boys, but the jump-out boys are known far too often in black communities as police officers who are given license to harass and brutalize black people and brown people.”

The suit states that Police Chief Cerelyn Davis and Assistant Chief Shawn Jones both came to Memphis from Atlanta law enforcement, which employed a “red dog” unit that the two brought to Memphis. The lawsuit alleges these types of units amount to “institutionalized police oppression units.” The suit also claims Atlanta’s unit was highly controversial and eventually disbanded in 2011 following a federal civil rights lawsuit preceded by the raid of an LGBT bar without probable cause.

“Less than a year after her appointment, Chief Davis and Assistant Chief Jones resorted to their Atlanta roots and a familiar concept to gain approval: police suppression units,” the lawsuit alleges.

The Memphis SCORPION unit, launched in November 2021, comprised three teams of about 30 officers.

The unit was tasked with addressing rising crime in Memphis, in part by targeting violent offenders in areas of concern. But the unit faced heavy criticism in the aftermath of Nichols’ death and was disbanded after a video was released from MPD of the entire altercation.

Rodney Wells and RowVaughn Wells, parents of Tyre Nichols, stand and applaud for President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address in the House Chambers of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 7, 2023. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The suit alleges several possible counts that they believe led to Nichols’s death by involved parties including failure to train, failure to supervise, unreasonable traffic stop, excessive force, failure to intervene, deliberate indifference to serious medical needs, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and fraudulent misrepresentations.

As mentioned, the lawsuit calls for monetary relief of $550 million as well as a jury trial.

Tyre’s Mother Speaks

In a press conference Wednesday, Tyre’s mother said the suit was not meant to focus on money but to send a message.

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

She added incidents like this “need to stop” because “we just can’t have this.”

“My son was here on an assignment, and he’s fulfilled that assignment. God took him home, but now it’s my turn to make sure that my son’s death does not go in vain,” Wells said. “We have to do some things and push some issues in order so that this will not happen to another child. Because I will tell you, this should happen to no mother, no parent should be going through what I’m going through right now.”

Other Details and Earlier Officer Charges

The lawsuit and press conference Wednesday conflated the case with that of Emmitt Till in the 1950s.

“At the time of his death on January 10, 2023, Tyre’s condition in the ICU was compared to that of Emmitt Till—a young man brutally beaten and killed in Mississippi in 1955,” the lawsuit stated. “Like Till nearly 70 years prior, Tyre was left unrecognizable because of the beating he endured at [the] 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.”

This combo of images provided by the Memphis Police Department shows (top L–R) officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, (bottom L–R) Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith. Memphis Police Department via AP

The video release of the incident resulted in officers being fired, and later in January, five former officers were arrested and charged with second-degree murder. MPD officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith—who are also black—were accused of severely beating Nichols during the traffic stop.

The whole incident and its widespread media coverage led to condemnation across the country and political spectrum.

No response has been filed yet by any of the defendants and attorneys have not yet returned requests for comment.

Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report.