Civil rights leaders say acquittals in Tyre Nichols' death highlight the
need for police reform
[May 08, 2025]
By ADRIAN SAINZ, JONATHAN MATTISE and GRAHAM LEE BREWER
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — After three former Memphis police officers were
acquitted Wednesday in the beating death of Tyre Nichols, community and
civil rights leaders expressed outrage over another disappointment in
the long push for police reform.
Nichols' death at a traffic stop more than two years ago sparked
nationwide protests and renewed calls for systemic change as the first
post-George Floyd case that revealed the limits of an unprecedented
reckoning over racial injustice in Black America.
Now, Wednesday's acquittals again show the need for reforms at the
federal level, civil rights leaders said.
“Tyre and his family deserve true justice — not only in the courtroom,
but in Congress, by passing police reform legislation once and for all,"
NAACP President Derrick Johnson posted on social media. "Traffic stops
should never be a death sentence, and a badge should never— ever — be a
shield to accountability.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who spoke Wednesday to Nichols' mother and
stepfather, said they were outraged.
“Justice can still be delivered,” Sharpton added in a statement,
referring to the officers' upcoming sentencing in a federal civil rights
case. “Tyre’s death was preventable, inexcusable, and tragic.”
Nichols, 29, was on his way home on Jan. 7, 2023, when he was stopped
for an alleged traffic violation. He was pulled out of his car by
officers, one of whom shot at him with a Taser. Nichols ran away,
according to video footage that showed him brutally beaten by five
officers. An autopsy found he died from blows to the head.
Three officers were acquitted Wednesday of all state charges, including
second-degree murder, in the fatal beating. All five officers, the city
of Memphis and the police chief are being sued by Nichols’ family for
$550 million. A trial has been scheduled for next year.
“Let this be a rally and cry: We must confront the broken systems that
empowered this injustice and demand the change our nation — and Tyre’s
legacy — deserves,” said civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is
representing the family in the lawsuit.
After Floyd's 2020 murder by a former Minneapolis police officer, states
adopted hundreds of police reform proposals, creating civilian oversight
of police, more anti-bias training and stricter use-of-force limits,
among other measures. But federal reforms in the George Floyd Justice in
Policing Act have been stuck in Congress without enough bipartisan
support to get enacted during the Biden administration.
The Nichols case sparked a 17-month federal investigation into the
Memphis Police Department, which found a host of civil rights
violations, including using excessive force, making illegal traffic
stops and disproportionately targeting Black people.
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Candles spell out the name of Tyre Nichols during a candlelight
vigil for Nichols on the anniversary of his death, Jan. 7, 2024, in
Memphis. (AP Photo/Karen Pulfer Focht, file)
Last year, police traffic-stop reforms put in place in Memphis after
Nichols’ death were repealed by GOP Gov. Bill Lee, despite pleas
from civil rights advocates.
One of the ordinances had outlawed traffic stops for reasons
unrelated to a motorist's driving, such as a broken taillight and
other minor violations. Lee echoed arguments from Republican
lawmakers who said Nichols’ death needed to result in accountability
for officers who abuse power, not new limits on traffic stops.
Speaking after Wednesday's acquittal, Shelby County District
Attorney Steven Mulroy said: “Our office will continue to push for
accountability for everybody who violates the law, including if not
especially, those who are sworn to uphold it.”
“If we’re going to have any silver lining from this dark cloud of
both the event itself and in my view today’s verdict, it has to be
that we need to reaffirm our commitment to police reform,” he said.
Thaddeus Johnson, a former Memphis police commander and a senior
fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice, said Nichols' beating and
Wednesday's acquittal compound wounds from generations of policing
problems in the majority-Black city.
“I do believe that reform is local, but I do believe this has kind
of put a black eye on things,” Johnson told the AP. "People feel
like police cannot be held accountable. Or they won’t be held
accountable.”
Andre Johnson, a pastor at Gifts of Life Ministries in Memphis and a
community activist, said he was disappointed but not surprised at
the verdict.
“It is extremely difficult to convict officers even when they are on
camera,” he said, calling the acquittal ”a loud and clarion
acknowledgement that certain groups of people do not matter.”
“For a lot of people who have had engagement with police officers,
the message is loud and clear: that even if we get you on camera,
doing what you did to Tyre, that you cannot face justice.”
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Brewer reported from Norman, Oklahoma. Mattise reported from
Nashville. AP writer Travis Loller in Nashville contributed.
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