Tyr Nichols’ family joins Memphis Skatepark’s Candlelight Vigil in honor of Tyr

Memphis, Tennessee. Two weeks after their son was killed by five Memphis police officers, Tyre Nichols’ family and members of the Memphis community honored him by candlelight at a Memphis skatepark.

The demonstration took place at Toby Skatepark in Memphis at 7:00 pm Thursday, as community activists spoke about injustice in Memphis and across the country. One woman named Amber, a local activist, said she was tired of dealing with these issues, after which the crowd exploded in agreement.

“Again, and again, and again – people in Memphis are being literally brutally murdered, and the city is responding by adding more cops, adding more task forces – not this time,” Amber said.

Nichols died three days after five Memphis police officers stopped traffic on January 7.

All five former Memphis police officers fired after Nichols’ death were charged and sent to the Shelby County Jail Thursday.

Amber continued, “We want clear answers from every person who was at the scene and brutally killed Tyre.” To everyone who had a hand, we need to reveal every name. Don’t just quietly fire the firefighters, don’t just quietly fire the paramedics, the ambulance — name them.”

The officers were fired on Friday, January 20, after the MPD said they were “directly responsible for the physical abuse of Mr. Nichols.” They have been identified as Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith.

“I noticed that CJ Davis wrote a nice little article about how they are going to investigate the activities of the Scorpion squad. We’re not investigating anything – we’re dissolving it,” Amber said.

Tyre Nichols’ mother, Rowan Wells, asked all protesters to remain peaceful during the vigil. Wells said that if people take to the streets protesting for her son and for her, then they should do it peacefully.

Wells also mentioned that she did not see the video in its entirety, as was briefly mentioned in a press conference after the video was viewed by family and a lawyer on Monday. She went on to say that while she didn’t see it in its entirety, she said she knew it was terrible and didn’t want anyone to show the video to their children or let them watch it in any capacity.

Others at the vigil said that if the beating is as bad as current viewers make it out to be, they don’t want to see it either.

Hayley, Smith, Bean, Mills and Martin are charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault – joint action, aggravated kidnapping resulting in bodily injury, aggravated kidnapping with a weapon, misconduct by unauthorized use of official authority, official misconduct through failure to fulfill the obligation imposed by law, and official harassment.

Memphis community leaders, state lawmakers and even the President of the United States spoke out about Nichols’ death on Thursday after the charges were announced.

President Biden said he joins the Taira family in calling for peaceful protests over the death of the Taira.

Attorney Ben Crump said on Thursday that the tragedy “absolutely” fits the definition of an unnecessary and unnecessary death.