The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for 29-year-old Tire Nichols showed he “died of traumatic brain injury due to traumatic stress,” according to the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. , Tenn., County. Here, a display at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans honors Nichols ahead of the NBA basketball game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Washington Wizards on January 28.
Matthew Hinton/AP
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The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for 29-year-old Tire Nichols showed he “died of traumatic brain injury due to traumatic stress,” according to the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. , Tenn., County. Here, a display at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans honors Nichols ahead of the NBA basketball game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Washington Wizards on January 28.
Matthew Hinton/AP
Attorneys for Tire Nichols’ family say the medical examiner’s official autopsy report found he died of blunt force trauma – which they said was “very consistent”. with their independent autopsy conducted in January.
The family of the 29-year-old man who died after being beaten by Memphis police were informed of the results of his autopsy on Wednesday, nearly four months after his death.
The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, Tenn., has yet to release the results of the autopsy to the public. The DA’s office did not respond to NPR’s request for immediate comment on the results.
Attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci said in a statement sent to NPR: “We now know what we knew then. Tire Nichols died of blunt force trauma and the manner of death was homicide. “. “The official autopsy report further advances our commitment to seeking justice for this senseless tragedy.”
Nichols died on January 10, three days after he was stopped by Memphis police for reckless driving. According to the initial police report, the officer said Nichols fled the scene but was eventually arrested after two “confrontations” with officers.
Nichols complained of difficulty breathing after his arrest and was taken to hospital in critical condition.
Five former Memphis police officers – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith – were terminated by the department at the end of January. Each of the five officers fired belonged to a team known as the SCORPION unit, has been disabled shortly after Nichols’ death.
Five former officers each face many charges, including second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression. All five officers have plead not guilty.
Like Nichols, all of the fired officers facing charges were Black.
News of Nichols’ autopsy results came after Nichols’ family filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Memphis, the police department and individual officers. regarding his death.
The The lawsuit is 139 pages long obtained by NPR described the fatal beating as “the foreseeable product of the unconstitutional policies, practices, customs, and deliberate indifference of the City of Memphis” and the city’s sheriff , Cerelyn “CJ” Davis.
The lawsuit does not mention a specific amount of money the Nichols family is seeking. However, Crump said in a Press Conference last month that the family was seeking $550 million in damages.
The City of Memphis declined to comment to NPR on the lawsuit when asked last month.
