Jury selection begins Monday in the federal civil rights trial of three former Memphis police officers charged in the 2023 beating death of Black motorist Tyre Nichols.
Tyre Nichols’ parents, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, plan to be in the courtroom as fired Memphis detectives Justin Smith, Tadarrius Bean and Demetrius Haley go on trial Monday in the beating death of their son after a traffic stop in 2023.
“You’re the mother. You want to make sure that what they’re saying is correct and you want to make sure that everything is going accordingly,” says RowVaughn Wells. “So you have to sit there and listen, even though you don’t want to.”
The former police officers are charged with depriving Tyre Nichols of his rights through excessive use of force, failure to intervene and obstruction of justice for conspiring to cover up what happened.
The felony charges carry a possible sentence of life in prison or the death penalty. Two other former policemen indicted in the case have pleaded guilty.
The ex-detectives were part of the now disbanded Scorpion Task Force, a specialized unit created to root out street crime, and known for aggressive policing tactics.
Disturbing surveillance and body cam video released by the Memphis police department shows the officers, all also Black, using pepper spray and a taser on Nichols after a traffic stop. Nichols can be heard saying he didn’t do anything wrong and trying to cooperate with the police until he flees. Later, the footage shows Nichols back in custody, on the ground as the officers repeatedly beat him. One lashes him on the back with a baton; another kicks him in the head. Nichols cries out for his mother several times. He’s left visibly and audibly struggling on the ground as more law enforcement arrives at the scene.
Nichols, 29, died three days later. An autopsy classified his death a homicide from blunt force trauma.
“I’m curious to see how they’re going to try to maneuver out of this, because the video don’t lie,” says RowVaughn Wells.
« Thank God for that skycam video,” adds Rodney Wells, referring to surveillance video from the neighborhood.Will trial reveal the motive behind the beating?
The Wells are bracing for defense lawyers to make it sound like their son was in the wrong for resisting the officers, but they say the video makes clear he was confused and in fear.
“He ran because he was scared for his life,” RowVaughn Wells says. “He was just trying to get home….and calling his momma.”
She struggles to understand the motivation behind the attack. “I want them to look at me and say why we did this to your son.”
The broader Memphis community is also looking for answers from this trial.
“Why was he pulled over?” asks attorney Van Turner who was president of the Memphis Branch of the NAACP when Nichols was killed.
