This story was updated on May 27, 2025, with the correct spelling of Tyré Nichols name.
Dozens of Memphis residents weathered the bitter cold on Jan. 7 to support Tyré Nichols’ family as they renewed their calls for justice and accountability for his death.
“Say his name, Tyré Nichols,” the marchers chanted as passing drivers honked to signal solidarity.
Roughly 100 people gathered to mark the second anniversary of the night Memphis police officers brutally beat Nichols, 29, during a traffic stop in Hickory Hill, a Black, low-crime, working-class neighborhood in southeast Memphis.
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The group marched the half-mile route from Ross and Raines roads — where Nichols was initially pulled over in 2023 — to the corner of Bear Creek Cove and Castlegate Lane — where police officers unleashed the fatal assault. The group held an hour-long vigil at the intersection, which is near his parent’s home.
“Two years ago, when my son was murdered on this corner, that first year was very difficult,” Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, told the gathered crowd. “This year has been unbearable. I had to listen to a cop tell people that they just stopped my son for nothing, that he was not a threat.”
Alongside Nichols’ parents and older sister, Keyana Dixon, concerned citizens from all parts of Memphis attended the event. The crowd included pastors, warehouse workers, attorneys, poets, a court clerk, a state representative and members of Decarcerate Memphis, a local coalition focused on improving public safety through community-led solutions.
Some even traveled across state lines to attend, including the father of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman shot to death by a sheriff’s deputy in her home near Springfield, Ill., in July 2024.
What’s in the DOJ report?
The U.S. Department of Justice’s report confirms several key facts about the Memphis Police Department:
- MPD’s patterns and practices are causing an erosion of community trust in policing.
- MPD violates federal laws and the U.S. Constitution.
- The department routinely uses excessive force in its policing practices.
- Officers illegally stop, search and arrest people on a regular basis.
- MPD mistreats children and illegally discriminates against Black people and people with mental health disabilities.
- The department’s deficient policies, training and supervision are the root cause of a lack of accountability.
Memphis residents’ ongoing support for Nichols’ family stands in stark contrast to the position of the city government, which has refused to sign a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice following its investigation documenting the Memphis Police Department’s history of brutal and illegal policing practices — an investigation that followed Nichols’ death.
What is a consent decree?
According to the Vera Institute, a consent decree is a legally binding tool meant to enforce change after a DOJ investigation has uncovered a pattern of misconduct. Think of it as a “performance improvement plan,” for municipalities or departments that regularly engage in unlawful practices.
A consent decree can last for several years, and the court has full discretion to decide when improvements have been completed and implemented. In the case of Memphis, Mayor Paul Young, so far, has declined to enter into a consent decree, citing costly, long-term processes in other police departments throughout the U.S.
“The city of Memphis took something very special from me and my family, but the community of Memphis has wrapped their arms around us,” Wells said.
Residents used the vigil to renew their calls for Memphis Mayor Paul Young to sign a consent decree and for city council to pass police accountability measures. Amber Sherman, an East Memphis resident and one of the vigil’s organizers, told the crowd that the DOJ report confirmed information already uncovered by Memphis citizens two years earlier.
Decarcerate Memphis’ “Driving While BIPOC” report showed that MPD over-relied on traffic stops and cited Black people nearly five times as often as white people. The group presented its findings at a Memphis City Council committee meeting in December 2022, just weeks before Nichols was killed.
“(City leaders) really faced us with a lot of skepticism to what we were saying, and (the DOJ report) really vindicated that,” Sherman told MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. “If they had just listened to the actual community … we wouldn’t have had this problem in the first place.”
Brittany Brown is the public safety reporter for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Email her at brittany.brown@mlk50.com
Andrea Morales is the visuals director for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Email her at andrea.morales@mlk50.com
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