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– The family of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old man who died after officers from the Memphis Police Department beat him, has filed a lawsuit over his death.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday morning in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee names the city of Memphis, police Chief Cerelyn «C.J.» Davis, the five officers facing criminal charges for Nichols’ death, two additional officers and three fire department employees.
The $550 million suit is intended to send a message and prevent similar deaths, family attorney Ben Crump said at a press conference Wednesday.
«This landmark lawsuit is not only to get 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 in and terrorize Black and brown communities,» Crump said.
«It is our mission to make it financially unsustainable for these police oppression units to unjustly kill Black people in the future,» he later added.
The case alleges negligence by the city in hiring Davis, along with Davis’ culpability in lax hiring processes, and the development of the SCORPION Unit’s «oppression style of policing» and poor training. SCORPION Unit stands for Street Crimes Operation to Return Peace In Our Neighborhoods.
