The “heinous,” and “appalling,” death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis has caused shockwaves across the nation and sparked calls for widespread protests against police brutality.
Five officers have been charged with murdering the 29-year-old by allegedly beating him during a traffic stop earlier this month — a shocking crime that the city’s horrified top cop described Friday as involving “acts that defy humanity.’’
Nichols’ family pleaded for peaceful protests ahead of the release of bodycam video of the incident Friday evening, as protesters in New York, Memphis, Los Angeles and many other locations across the country prepared to take to the streets.
Nichols’ mother also broke down as she said at a press conference, “He always said he was gonna be famous one day — I didn’t know this was what he meant.’’
Here is what we know so far about the victim:
“A mamma’s boy’’
Tyre Nichols was the youngest of four children — and so devoted to his mother that he had a tattoo with her name on his arm.
“That made me proud. Most kids don’t put their mom’s name,’’ his mother, RowVaughn Wells, told CNN.
She recalled how her beloved boy — who left behind a 4-year-old son — would loudly announce his presence when he walked through the door of the home where he lived with her and her husband, Nichols’ stepfather, who he considered his dad.
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“Hello, parents!” Nichols would say.
“And I’ll never hear that again,” the shattered mom said.
She lovingly called her son “a mamma’s boy,’’ indicating it was no surprise that in his darkest hour — as the life was being beaten out of him — he cried out for her.
“He was trying to get home to safety,’’ Wells said.
“He was a good boy,’’ she said. “No one’s perfect, but he was damn near.’’
Struggles with health
Nichols was tall — around 6’3” — but thin because of a battle with Crohn’s disease, his family said.
He weighed about 150 pounds at the time of his death, his mother said Friday — as she noted the size of the officers accused of killing him.
“Those men, if you combine their weight, it was over a thousand pounds, beating and beating a 150-pound person to death. Because that’s what they did, beat my son to death,’’ Wells said.
Love of the outdoors
Nichols reveled in spending time taking photos of nature.
“My name is Tyre D. Nichols. I am an aspiring photographer. Well I most do this stuff for fun but i enjoy it very much,’’ he wrote in an online posting.
“It expresses me in ways I cannot write down for people,’’ Nichols said.
“My vision is to bring my viewers deep into what i am seeing. … I hope to one day let people see what i see and to hopefully admire my work based on the quality and ideals of my work,” he added, signing off with “Your friend.’’
His grieving mother said, “My son every night wanted to go and look at the sunset, that was his passion.”
‘Free spirit’
Nichols broke the mold in many ways, family and friends said.
He lived in Sacramento, Calif., before moving to Memphis, and The Golden State influenced his love of skateboarding. He favored the local Shelby Park Farms.
“He was his own person and didn’t care if he didn’t fit into what a traditional black man was supposed to be in California — he had such a free spirit, and skating gave him his wings,” a longtime friend, Angelina Paxton, told the Commercial Appeal.
His mom said Friday there was no use arguing with her son to try perhaps more conventional hobbies.
“I tried to buy him a pair of Air Jordans [basketball sneakers] one time, and he said, ‘Oh, Mama, I don’t want those,’ ” Wells recalled.
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Some of Nichols’ mourning friends wore “Skate in Peace’’ t-shirts to a recent memorial for him.
His stepdad, Rodney Wells, told the New York Times that he recently told Nichols, “You’ve got to put that skateboard down.
“You’ve got a full-time job now.”
But Paxton and others called Nichols “a free spirit.’’
“Look at me now, I’ve never been happier,’’ Nichols told Paxton in recent months, she said.
“I don’t know if this was the right decision [moving to Memphis], I just know that this is where I was called to,’’ Nichols said at the time. “All you can do is go where you’re called to. Call it God, call it the universe, call it what you want — there is a plan for you and you just go, you don’t have to question it.”
On the right path
Nichols had been working at FedEx for about nine months before his death.
He would spend Sundays doing his laundry and getting ready for the work week, his mom said.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our team member,” FedEx said in a statement.
Nichols toiled on the afternoon and evening shift, taking his break around 7 p.m. every day to go home for dinner, the Times said.
His favorite meal: Mom’s chicken with sesame seeds, his mother said.
“My son was a beautiful soul,” Wells said.
