This was the question that Tyre Nichols asked the police as he was pulled over at a traffic stop and then beaten to the edge of death. Three days later Tyre died of his injuries sustained in a deadly “use-of-force incident with officers.”
It still isn’t clear as to why Nichols was made to pull his car over. He was driving home from work like he did every weekday evening. It was 7 p.m. and very close to his family home. He was never asked to show his driver’s licence or vehicle registration. He was never informed of his traffic offence. This young black man was beaten relentlessly from the moment he was forced out his car and found himself in the hands of the police. The remarkable fact was that until he attempted to run away from his attackers and failed, he had followed all their orders explicitly.
The five offending officers were members of the Memphis SCORPIO Unit, standing for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods. This saturation unit was created by Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis in 2021 to reduce city crime. This unit consisted of an elite team of 40 young police officers assigned to prevent, detect and interrupt violent crime proactively using stops, frisks, searches and arrests. This sort of specialized unit is commonly being employed in police forces across the U.S. and relies on aggressive policing tactics and cover-ups.
At first it was thought that the speed by which this matter was handled was a good thing. Often cases involving police violence drag on for years, sometimes with no convictions. This case is a bit different because the offenders are black, whereas this sort of offence is generally committed by whites. In spite of all of this the five officers were immediately fired and within 20 days they were arrested and charged with 2nd degree manslaughter. All that is good, but after further consideration, critics argue there is more to this incident than what meets the eye.
Tyre’s family prays with Reverend
Al Sharpton and Benjamin Crump
Tyre Nichols was buried this week after a televised funeral. The SCORPION Unit has been deactivated at the request of its members. Two emergency medical technicians and a fire department lieutenant were fired for violating multiple department policies and protocols. A sixth officer has been arrested who did not participate in the beating but made violent remarks. All this and whatever more comes to light will be presented at trial by civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump and negligence lawyer, Anthony Romanucci, who are representing Tyre’s family. Reverend Al Sharpton gave an eulogy highlighting the value Tyre’s life.
“These types of aggressive units are used in cities across the country and are intended to flood troubled areas with officers to stem high crime,” asserts Benjamin Crump. “But what we’ve seen this month in Memphis and for many years in many places, is that the behaviour of these units can morph into ‘wolf pack’ misconduct that takes away a person’s liberty or freedom to move, akin to a kidnapping.”
 |
  #75 SAT GEM 6/5/1993 Tyre Deandre Nichols |
Tyre Nichols was born on a Saturday in the zodiac sign of Gemini. Saturn rules his INNER Self and his OUTER Self is governed by Mercury. Individuals with the #75 SAT GEM Dayology Signature tend to be serious and smart. While they can be quite personable and kind, they act with great determination regarding their own interests and abilities. They also find themselves asked to handle a great deal of responsibility as time goes on, which they generally do well.
Having Saturn as a ruling planet is no picnic. Saturday’s child seems to experience far more than its share of life’s struggle and seriousness. For reasons that cannot readily be explained, things just seem to go wrong and the responsibilities pile up. Usually the second half of the life gets easier as Saturn ruled individuals do their personal best to handle all that comes their way. In this case Tyre’s situation was so physically difficult that he simply couldn’t make it back.
In her appearance on MSNBC Politics Nation Tyree’s mother, RowVaughn Wells spoke out about her son. “Nobody’s perfect, OK, but he was damn near.” She added “I believe in my heart that my son was on an assignment from God. He had finished it and had returned to Heaven.” Wells claims to have sensed that something was wrong while the attack was going on. It is reported that a distressed Tyree called out for his mother several times while he was being beaten.
Naturally there are going to be passionate demonstrations in the streets against this open display of police violence. RowVaughn Wells requested of Tyre’s supporters, “I want each and every one of you to protest in peace. I don’t want us burning up our cities, tearing up the streets because that’s not what my son stood for. If you are here for me and Tyre, you will protest peacefully.’
Wells told CNN that three days after the attack she received a call from a doctor directing her to come to the hospital immediately. “He urgently inquired, ‘why aren’t you here?’ And she replied, ‘The police officers said that I couldn’t come, because he was under arrest’,” He was “already gone” by the time that she and her husband arrived. Even here the police department was obstructing and depriving Tyre’s family of their rights, but why? Describing her son’s medical state “They had beat him to a pulp,” she said. “Tyre would have been a vegetable, if he had lived.”
So what was Tyree Nichols like? He was tall and thin. He had been an avid skateboarder from the age of six. Everyone who knew him says he was a “free soul” who posted his own photographs of nature and city life online while maintaining his full-time position as a UPS worker. “Everything he was trying to do was to better himself as a father for his 4-year-old son,” claims attorney, Ben Crump.
“He always said he was going to be famous one day. I didn’t know this is what he meant,” his mother stated at a press conference. Tyre’s life will forever represent an important cause, but everyone would rather have him alive, sharing the responsible life that he was creating.
“An act of violence against any innocent person eludes moral justification, disgraces the millions of Americans and people throughout the world who have united in peaceful protest against police brutality, and dishonors our proud inheritance of nonviolent resistance.” ~ Ben Crump
