Tyre Nichols’ death ruled homicide from blunt force trauma, Memphis family lawyers say
Autopsy results determined Tyre Nichols died of blunt force trauma after a violent encounter with cops just yards from his Memphis home, lawyers for the family say.
The 29-year-old Nichols died Jan. 10, three days after five Memphis police officers repeatedly punched and kicked him during a traffic stop.
In a statement shared with the Post Wednesday night, lawyers Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci said the medical examiner’s report found the father of one “died from blunt force trauma and the manner of death was homicide.”
“The official autopsy report further propels our commitment to seeking justice for this senseless tragedy,” the lawyers wrote on behalf of Nichols’ heartbroken loved ones, who were briefed on the results by Shelby County district attorney Steve Mulroy earlier Wednesday.
Crump, a high-powered civil rights attorney, previously compared Nichols’ beating to that of Rodney King in 1991.
The five officers – who were fired and charged with second-degree murder – treated the FedEx worker like a “human piñata,” Crump lamented in January.
Body cam footage of the shocking encounter subsequently showed the cops repeatedly punching, kicking, and pepper spraying Nichols as he wailed for his mother. Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis condemned their actions as “incomprehensible.”
Davis was named late last month in Nichols’ family’s $550 million lawsuit against the city, accusing the top cop of starting the now-defunct Scorpion unit that allegedly used “extreme intimidation, humiliation, and violence” to “disproportionately” target young black men.
At least two of the officers involved in Nichols’ death were part of the Scorpion squad.
In addition to the city, Davis, and the five charged officers, the suit cites one officer who was fired but spared criminal charges, and another who retired before he could be let go.
It also names three Memphis Fire Department employees who were terminated amid reports they failed to aid Nichols after the beating.
The charged officers – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith – pleaded not guilty in February. Crump was present at the brief court appearance, as was Nichols’ mother RowVaugh Wells.
“I am numb, just numb as I can be right now,” she said at the time.
