Tyre Deandre Nichols was a 29-year-old African American man who died on January 10, 2023, after being severely beaten by five Black officers from the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION unit. The incident occurred three days earlier on January 7, 2023, in Memphis, Tennessee, and became a significant moment in the ongoing national conversation about police violence against unarmed Black individuals.
Nichols was born on June 5, 1993, to RowVaughn Wells and an unnamed father. Much of his early life remains undocumented, but in 2020 he moved from Sacramento, California, to Memphis. He worked at FedEx and pursued photography as a hobby, maintaining his own website. Nichols also lived with Crohn’s disease, which impacted his health and weight.
On the night of January 7, 2023, Nichols was driving home when officers stopped him at 8:24 p.m. near East Raines Road and Ross Road, in the Autumn Ridge neighborhood. The five officers involved were Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith. Officer Preston Hemphill also participated in the initial traffic stop…