Tyre Nichols' family sues Memphis PD for $550M in lawsuit comparing his killing to that of Emmett Till's
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MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE: Tyre Nichols' family filed a $550 million lawsuit this week against the city of Memphis and police, a little more than three months after the FedEx driver died as a result of a brutal beating by cops. Nichols, 29, was pulled over for a traffic violation barely 60 yards from his family's home on January 10 and later pronounced dead after allegedly being beaten, slapped, pepper-sprayed and kicked by five now-fired police officers.
In a recently filed federal lawsuit, Nichols' family draws parallels between his death and the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, claiming that Tyre, like Till, was beaten by the "hands of a modern-day lynch mob," TMZ reports.
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What is mentioned in the lawsuit?
In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, April 19 by RowVaugh Wells, the mother of Tyre Nichols, Memphis Police Director Cerelyn "CJ" Davis is charged with creating the Scorpion crime suppression squad and using "extreme intimidation, humiliation, and violence" to "disproportionately" target young black men, reports New York Post. The Scorpion team, which was dissolved in late January, had at least two of the policemen implicated in Nichols' death. Additionally, all five were fired and given second-degree murder charges.
As per the lawsuit, the justifications for the officers' decision to stop the father of one were "never substantiated." It asserts that he was singled out due to his race. Davis and the five law enforcement indicted are named as defendants in the complaint, along with Memphis, one officer who was terminated but not charged criminally, and one more officer who retired before he could be fired. Additionally, it mentions the dismissal of three Memphis Fire Department employees after it was discovered that they did not assist Nichols after the beating.
'Modern-day lynch mob'
According to the lawsuit, Nichols was "left unrecognizable" by the attack after suffering severe injuries and internal bleeding. The assault was equated to the 1955 lynching death of Emmett Till by the attorneys for Nichols' mother, who called the Memphis police a "modern-day lynch mob" and connected it to that incident. "Unlike Till, this lynching was carried out by those adorned in department sweatshirts and vests and their actions were sanctioned — expressly and implicitly — by the City of Memphis, the filing states.
What happened to Tyre Nichols?
The body camera footage of the accused officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr, and Justin Smith, showed them constantly pursuing Nichols before ignoring him when he was detained and leaning against a police car. In February, all five defendants entered not-guilty pleas to second-degree murder charges. At first, Martin, Haley, and Officer Preston Hemphill stated they had stopped Nichols on January 7 because he was operating erratically. Then, while shouting and threatening him, they dragged Nichols out of his car and pepper-sprayed him. The police report stated that Hemphill discharged his stun gun as Nichols broke free. A few minutes later, Nichols was captured by Mills, Bean, and Smith. According to police reports, Martin and Haley joined the three men as they began punching and beating Nichols with a baton.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family reportedly said that Nichols' mother wants a jury trial and $550 million in financial damages, reports AP.