Taun Hall and The Miles Hall Foundation are sending prayers and condolences to Tyre Nichols’ family, friends, and community. We have all been deeply affected by the horrific attack by five officers from the Memphis Police Department on January 7th.
Tyre was unarmed when he was pulled over for a traffic stop. He was beaten to death by those who were hired to protect and serve - just a few block from his home.
Sadly, we know all too well the pain they are going through losing someone they love to police violence. Our family stands shoulder-to-shoulder and heart-to-heart with Tyre’s family to fight for justice to ensure this doesn’t happen again. We cannot be silent while police keep killing innocent people and being Black shouldn’t be a death sentence. It is critical that we transform the public safety system, not just reform it.
We ALL need to demand that policing in America be overhauled because we know the police, regardless of their race, pledge their allegiance to a violent system that disproportionately harms people of color.
We need to demand that law enforcement implement the strictest use of force standards and require officers to think about their actions and stop doing harm. Police need to stop killing people! Further, there must be true accountability for all police; having a badge doesn’t give anyone the right to be judge, jury and executioner.
The police officers involved in the murder of Tyre Nichols have been charged – but that is far from enough to ensure justice for Tyre and his family.
We need fundamental and systemic actions to police the police. As a community of people across this country we need to work to ensure that no one ever experiences (or witnesses) this kind of violence at the hands of law enforcement ever again.
Tyre Nichols was a 29-year-old man living in Memphis Tennessee with his four-year-old son. He worked for the shipping company FedEx and was an aspiring photographer.
Tyre Nichols also had a medical condition called Crohn’s disease, due to which was he severely underweight. Nichols only weighed about 66 kgs despite being over 6 feet tall, per his attorney. Raised in California, he had only moved to Memphis in 2020.
Why was Tyre Nichols killed?
Tyre Nichols was pulled over by five Memphis Police Department police officers, allegedly for reckless driving. The officers pulled Nichols out of the car and used pepper spray and taser on him, after which the victim tried to run away.
The officers eventually caught up with Nichols and started punching and kicking him. They restrained his hands behind his back and started hitting him with batons repeatedly. The harrowing incident took place on January 7, and the body cam and CCTV footage of the same was released.
Nichols was hospitalised and eventually passed away on January 10 due to “excessive bleeding caused by a severe beating”, as per the autopsy report. This case was revered as a repeat of the George Floyd death case and brought to light the unlawful acts of the police in the United States.
UPDATE: Ex-Memphis Police Officers Convicted in Connection with Brutal Beating Death of Tyre Nichols. While acquitted on the most serious charges, three officers were all convicted on at least one count.