The City of Memphis, according to legal filings from late September, is attempting to subpoena phone and social media records from Tyre Nichols’ family and friends as the ongoing civil lawsuit over Nichols’ death continues to move toward trial.
The records were attached as evidence in a Sept. 30 motion for a protective order, filed by attorneys representing Nichols’ family, and alleges that the city wants the records to “dig up irrelevant dirt with which the city apparently hopes to smear Mr. Nichols’ character in some effort to minimize damages and compensation for his minor son.”
Attorneys representing RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother , filed the lawsuit about three months after Nichols was beaten by Memphis police officers. The $550 million lawsuit was labeled as a “landmark” case that civil rights attorney Ben Crump said was an attempt to “make it financially unsustainable for these police oppression units to unjustly kill Black people in the future.”
The bulk of the 77-page motion is made up of exhibits that include subpoenas for RowVaughn and Rodney Wells’ cell phone provider, T-Mobile, and subpoenas to Marvin, Lori and Kris Volker — friends of Nichols who housed him for a time in Sacramento, California, when RowVaughn Wells was in Memphis. They also requested documents from Verizon about Nichols’ work history.