Three Former Officers Acquitted in Tyre Nichols Death, Prompting Outrage and Renewed Calls for Reform
Nearly a year and a half after the violent beating that led to Tyre Nichols’s death shocked the nation, a Tennessee jury has acquitted three former Memphis police officers of all state charges related to the 29-year-old’s killing.
By Stacy M. Brown | Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent
Nearly a year and a half after the violent beating that led to Tyre Nichols’s death shocked the nation, a Tennessee jury has acquitted three former Memphis police officers of all state charges related to the 29-year-old’s killing.
On Wednesday, May 8, a jury in Memphis found Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, and Justin Smith not guilty of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, and other charges. The jury was selected from Chattanooga to mitigate potential local bias.
Nichols, a Black FedEx employee and father, was on his way home from work in January 2023 when he was pulled over and subsequently beaten by multiple officers — a brutal assault that was captured on video and widely circulated, igniting national outrage.
“This is a devastating miscarriage of justice,” said civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who represent the Nichols family. “The world watched as Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by those sworn to protect and serve.”
They added, “Tyre’s life was stolen, and his family was denied the justice they so deeply deserve. We are outraged, and we know we are not alone.”
The trial marks the second courtroom reckoning for the three men. Last fall, in a separate federal case, all three were convicted of witness tampering. Haley was also found guilty of violating Nichols’s civil rights by inflicting bodily injury. However, federal jurors did not find them responsible for Nichols’s death. Sentencing in the federal case is expected later this year.
Rev. Al Sharpton, who delivered Nichols’s eulogy in February 2023, denounced the acquittal and expressed deep frustration after speaking with Nichols’s parents.
“My understanding is this was an all-white jury, brought in from outside Memphis,” Sharpton said. “It is also absurd that the City of Memphis continues to deny responsibility, blaming the officers individually, when it was the aggressive culture of the now-disbanded VIPER unit that enabled this kind of policing.”
Sharpton and others are now urging federal prosecutors to push for the maximum penalties in the officers’ upcoming sentencing.
“This verdict should be a rallying cry,” Crump and Romanucci said in a joint statement. “We must confront the broken systems that empowered this injustice and demand change — for Tyre, for his family, and for every community still waiting for justice.”
