Police reform passed in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ death at the hands of Memphis police is now null and void. Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed into law a measure Thursday that prevents local governments from passing anything that would interfere with police stopping crime.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to WPLN’s request for comment.
A local solution
Last year, Rodney and RowVaughn Wells buried their son with the whole world watching. The death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols at the hands of police last January sparked outrage. His sister, Keyana Dixon, spoke at his funeral alongside Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I see the world showing him love and fighting for his justice, but all I want is my baby brother back,” Dixon said.
In the wake of Nichols’ death, the Memphis City Council passed several ordinances aimed at reforming its police department. The Tyre Nichols Act eliminated “pretextual” traffic stops, when an officer pulls someone over for a minor violation like a broken taillight or expired tags.
“When they stopped our son Tyre, they came up with all these different excuses as to why they stopped him. But as we all know, none of those excuses panned out,” RowVaughn Wells said.
The legislative fight
RowVaughn and Rodney Wells traveled to Nashville earlier this month to urge lawmakers to vote against the measure that would undo the police reform named for their late son.
“What those people don’t understand is pretextual stops, all they’re doing is harassing us, the black citizens of Memphis,” she said.
Nichols’ parents weren’t in the room when the Tennessee House advanced the law. The family said that’s because the bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. John Gillespie of Memphis, told them the bill was being pushed to the following week.
“So, basically his word is no good to us,” Wells said.
On the House floor, Democratic Rep. Justin J Pearson, also of Memphis, spoke against the bill — and its timing.
“You saw the Wells family, spoke with them briefly, told them this bill wouldn’t come up until probably next Thursday,” he said. “You are here before us today on a bill that should be going back to committee, having lied to them.”
Gillespie denied Pearson’s claims. He says that this measure will keep Tennessee communities safe.
“I have constituents, I have neighbors, and I have members of the community that are begging, begging, begging for safer streets. And this will do exactly that,” he said.
Stopping crime
After the bill passed out of the Senate, Democratic Sen. London Lamar told reporters that the legislature had sent a message that they condone police brutality.
“What we did today will not stop crime,” she said. “The traffic stops do not reduce crime; they are not helping find violent criminals any more than the laws we already have in place. It’s also saying that local bodies do not have the autonomy to put in policies to protect their own people.”
As for the Nichols’ family, RowVaughn Wells says that this legislation undoes the legacy of her son and puts Black Memphians at risk.
“Our son got pulled over for a pretextual stop and he ended up murdered. So, you tell us, should we continue to keep having these pretextual stops? Because at the end of the day, my stop and your stop are two different stops,” she said.
The measure becomes law as the Memphis police department is already under a federal civil rights investigation for Nichols’ death.
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