Who was Tyre Nichols?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/us/who-was-tyre-nichols.html

free link: https://archive.ph/B2PDl

Tyre Nichols, the man whose death this month at the hands of Memphis police led to the dismissal of five officers, loved to photograph sunsets and to skateboard, a passion he’d had since he was a boy.

Mr. Nichols, 29, who worked for FedEx and had a 4-year-old son, was too old to be skating anymore, said his stepfather, Rodney Wells.

“You’ve got to put that skateboard down,” Mr. Wells remembered telling Mr. Nichols not long before he died. “You’ve got a full-time job now.”

(snip)

According to the family’s lawyers, Mr. Nichols told the police officers during the Jan. 7 encounter that he just wanted to go home, and in what the lawyers believe were his final words, he called out for his mother. Her house was about 100 yards from where he was beaten, the lawyers said.

Fairly short article that then links to "What we know about Tyre Nichols' lethal encounter with Memphis police"

https://www.nytimes.com/article/tyre-nichols-memphis-police-dead.html

https://archive.ph/hKAZn

Tyre Nichols, 29, was beaten by Memphis police officers for three minutes on Jan. 7 after the officers had stopped him for reckless driving, lawyers for his family said on Monday. The stop escalated into a violent confrontation that ended with Mr. Nichols hospitalized in critical condition. Three days later, he died.

The circumstances of the traffic stop remain murky, as officials have disclosed little information. But Mr. Nichols’s death has stoked anger and frustration in Memphis as his family, their lawyers and activists seek answers.

Memphis is now waiting for the release of video footage of the stop, which city officials have vowed to make public. Mr. Nichols’s family and their lawyers watched the video on Monday. In it, they could see that Mr. Nichols, who was Black, had been pepper sprayed, shocked with a stun gun and restrained, Antonio Romanucci, one of the lawyers, told reporters after watching the footage.

(snip)
An independent autopsy found that Mr. Nichols “suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to preliminary findings released by his family’s lawyers on Tuesday.

[BigmanPigman]

1. Once again I am sickened by our so-called protectors of peace.

They resemble instigators of violence and hatred in my eyes. They act more like Nazi SS officers in the Warsaw Ghetto.

[Delphinus]

2. I am glad

his attackers were fired and will now face criminal charges.

[rsdsharp]

3. That wasn't a severe beating. He was simply "tuned up"

because he ran from the virtuous and courageous officers who put their lives on the line every minute of everyday.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. Evening kick.

[Withywindle]

5. Here's a video of him skating

Link to tweet

It's important to bear witness to the horrific violence, but I think it's also important to get to know a little bit about what the victims were like when they were alive and doing what what they love. To understand and really viscerally feel that decades of joy have been stolen from them and their loved ones.

[Solly Mack]

6. K&R

[ChazII]

7. K&R n/t