Attorneys for the family of Tyre Nichols filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Memphis, the Memphis Police Department (MPD), and those involved in his January traffic stop and killing by police.
The lawsuit was filed by civil rights attorneys Ben Crump, Antonio Romanucci, and local counsel. A news release issued Wednesday said it was a “landmark lawsuit” but did not give a dollar figure the family seeks in damages.
But the attorneys said Nichols, 29, was on his way home to have dinner with his parents the night of his killing at the hands of police. They said the “abhorrent and reprehensible” actions of “untrained and unsupervised” officers came via “officially sanctioned, unconstitutional MPD policies.” The actions were set in motion, the lawyers said, upon the hiring of MPD Chief Cerelyn Davis a year prior.
“The savage beating of Tyre Nichols was the direct and foreseeable product of the unconstitutional policies, practices, customs, and decisions of the city of Memphis and Chief Davis,” reads a statement from the attorneys. “Her now-disbanded police unit carried a name that will forever live in infamy for the devastation and carnage it caused: Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods (SCORPION).
”Rather than ’restore peace’ in Memphis neighborhoods, SCORPION brought terror. In reality, it was an officially sanctioned gang of inexperienced, hyper-aggressive police officers turned loose on the Memphis community without any oversight to strike without warning and, many times, without any valid constitutional basis. Consistent with the directives received from Chief Davis herself, SCORPION officers carried out untold Fourth Amendment violations with a focus on Black men living in Memphis.”
The attorneys described the scene the night Nichols was pulled over. For starters, they said the officers never gave him a reason for the stop and reasons for that stop have not yet been substantiated.
Here’s how the attorneys described the scene that night:
“As the SCORPION officers escalated the situation with harsh and disgusting profanity and hostility, Tyre attempted to de-escalate with measured communication and calmness.
“Upon recognizing these officers were operating with raging aggression and unjustified force, Tyre fled the scene toward his home where he lived with his parents. What transpired next was a relentless and brutal beating by a group of officers.
“Just feet from his parents and the safety of his home, five SCORPION officers tracked Tyre down and deployed their sting in the form of repeated punches, kicks, and pepper spray to a non-resistant, restrained young man shouting for his mother while they unleashed their physical hostility upon him.
“When Tyre fell to the ground, he was lifted back up so that officers could continue to tee-off with more punches, strikes, kicks, and chemical sprays — all of this with full knowledge that their body-worn cameras were recording every second.
“Such a ruthless and brutal beating could only be carried out by officers without any fear of discipline or intervention and with a hardened, defined shield of impunity protecting them from on high. To be sure, there was never any attempt of intervention by any officer or (MPD) official at any point as Tyre remained defenseless through the onslaught.
“When the torrential beating ended, Tyre’s body was propped up against the police car to be displayed like a battered prize of a trophy hunt for the countless Memphis officials that would arrive on the scene. Pictures would be taken, jokes would be made, and medical care would be withheld for over twenty minutes as Tyre’s body lay devastated from the beating. Indeed, he was dying, and three days later succumbed to his injuries.”
The suit was filed in United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Western Division. Defendants in the case are the “city of Memphis, MPD Chief Cerelyn Davis, Emmitt Martin III, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Desmond Mills, Jr., Tadarrius Bean, Preston Hemphill, and DeWayne Smith who were participants in individual capacities as Memphis Police Officers, and Robert Long, JaMichael Sandridge, and Michelle Whitaker for their individual roles as Memphis Fire Department employees.
The complaint states Nichols was deprived of his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. It also highlights what it calls systemic issues for improper policies and procedures by the city of Memphis.
The suit also alleges that MPD lieutenant DeWayne Smith lied to Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells. Smith told her the night of the police killing that Nichols was intoxicated, the suit says. He also withheld reasons why Nichols was arrested, lied about Nichols’ medical condition, failed to say that Nichols was just around the corner from her house, and that Nichols was dying.
The suit seeks compensatory, special, and punitive damages and costs as defined under federal law in an amount to be determined by a jury.
“Tyre’s condition in the hospital can be likened to that of Emmitt Till, who was also beaten unrecognizable by a lynch mob,” said attorney Crump. “But, Tyre’s lynch mob was dressed in department sweatshirts and vests, sanctioned by the entities that supplied them. Please, Memphis. Please, America. We must hold these people accountable and create meaningful change once and for all. We can not let another 70 years go by.”
