Why was Tyre Nichols pulled over? What to know about the case as Memphis trial gets underway

The trial for the murder of Tyre Nichols began on Sept. 9 and is expected to last for about a month.

In January 2023, Memphis police pulled Tyre Nichols over for a traffic stop in South Memphis. Three days later, Nichols died from injuries sustained after bring brutally beaten by police.

The trial for the officers charged in Nichols' murder began Monday and continued with opening statements on Wednesday.

Here is everything that has happened since January 2023.

Why was Tyre Nichols pulled over?

On Jan. 7, 2023, Memphis police pulled Tyre Nichols over for a traffic stop near Raines and Ross roads at 8:30 p.m. on suspicion of reckless driving. During the stop, Nichols was beaten for nearly three minutes by the now-former officers. He was left in critical condition and died from his injuries, including blunt force trauma to the head, three days later.

Officers initially said that a confrontation arose. Nichols ran from the scene and officers chased him on foot. He was later apprehended and complained of shortness of breath.

Memphis police later released body cam footage on Jan. 27 that shows the officers yelling for Nichols to get out of his car, and officers can be seen forcibly removing him from the car. The officers punched, kicked and pepper sprayed him in the fatal beating. They kicked Nichols at least twice in the face, struck him with a baton in the upper body area, punched him in the face, punched him in the upper body area, and kicked him in the abdomen.

This all occurred less than 100 years from his family home.

Former Lt. Dewayne Smith, the supervisor on duty that night took an officer charged in Nichols' beating with him to RowVaughn and Rodney Wells' house after the beating where they told Nichols' parents he was arrest for DUI. Dewayne Smith later resigned from the department but has not faced criminal charges.

Protests from Tyre Nichols' death

Less than a month after Nichols' death, peaceful protests occurred in Memphis seeking justice for Nichols and his family.

A peaceful "Justice for Tyre" protest, organized by Black Lives Matter and Decarcerate Memphis, started near the Shelby County Courthouse and the group marched along Adams Ave. before ending up at Poplar and Danny Thomas. The protesters chanted "Say his name, Tyre" and "Justice for Tyre Nichols."

One of the demonstrations included shutting down the I-55 bridge on the night the Memphis police released the first footage of Nichols' beating.

What happened to the officers involved in Tyre Nichols' death?

The five former officers charged with Nichols' death are Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills, Jr.

On Jan. 20, 2023, all five officers involved were fired. The five were also indicted at the state level.

On Jan 26, they were indicted and booked into the Shelby County Jail. The former officers were all charged with one count of second-degree murder, aggravated assault-acting in concert, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct and one count of official oppression.

Former officer Desmond Mills, Jr. accepted a plea deal on Nov. 2, 2023. He pleaded guilty to excessive force and conspiracy to witness tamper in federal court. In state court, he pleaded guilty to the slew of charges related to Nichols' death. Federal prosecutors recommended Mills serve a 15-year sentence.

"My use of force was excessive, and I gave misleading statements," Mills told Judge Mark Norris when asked by the judge to give his account of what happened.

On Aug. 23, 2024, Emmitt Martin III became the second officer to plead guilty. The plea came over two weeks before the federal criminal case was set to go to trial. Martin pleaded guilty to the use of excessive force and conspiracy to tamper with a witness. All other counts were dropped. Prosecutors recommended a 40-year sentence for Martin.

Preston Hemphill, an officer also active in the scene, was fired but not criminally charged. Dewayne Smith resigned before his internal hearing and has no charges against him. A $550 million civil lawsuit against the city named both former officers.

Changes come from Tyre Nichols' death

After Nichols' death, activists and Memphis City Council members joined forces. They passed ordinances to change the police's traffic stop policies and created public databases for traffic stops.

One ordinance, which prevents officers from pulling people over in what are often referred to as "pretextual stops," was later banned by the Tennessee General Assembly. The law prohibiting the ordinance from being enacted passed along party lines in the Republican supermajority, and over objections from Nichols' family.

Nichols' death also resulted in the SCORPION Unit, a specialized unit that was billed as a violent crime-fighting force, being disbanded. Each officer fired was part of the unit, which was an acronym for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods.

Trial begins for Tyre Nichols

Opening statements for the trial began Wednesday, Sept. 11. The trial is expected to last between three and four weeks with now-former Memphis police officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith remaining. Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr. will testify in this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Rogers said that the evidence presented in court would be "harrowing" and said the beating that Nichols faced at the hands of now-former Memphis police officers was "punishment."

John Keith Perry, who is representing Taddarius Bean, focused on the risk of being a police officer in Memphis, the split-second decisions that had to be made and alleged that Nichols' behavior warranted the use of force in his opening statements.

Michael Stengel, Demetrius Haley's attorney, recounted the events from many perspectives in his opening statements. He said that Haley was "aggressive and profane" in his commands, but he said that was how he was trained to handle "high-risk" suspects.

Martin Zummach's, Justin Smith's attorney, opening statements focused on the fact that the indictment charged each former officer with the same charges, even as he said they had varying culpability in Nichols' beating.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Why was Tyre Nichols pulled over? From Memphis police beating to trial