*Officials in Memphis said that the $550 million lawsuit filed by Row Vaughn Wells, the mother of Tyre Nichols, against the city would bankrupt the city.
We reported earlier via CNN that Nichols’ family filed a federal $550 million lawsuit against the city of Memphis, its police department, and what the suit said were “unqualified, untrained, and unsupervised” officers assigned to a special unit who brutally beat the 29-year-old Black man after a traffic stop in January.
Nichols was repeatedly punched and kicked by police officers following a traffic stop and brief foot chase on January 7. He was hospitalized and died three days later.
The lawsuit, filed by lawyers for Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, said the fatal beating was the “direct and foreseeable product of the unconstitutional policies, practices, customs, and deliberate indifference of the City of Memphis” and its police officials.
“This has nothing to do with the monetary value of this lawsuit,” Wells told reporters. “But everything that has to do with accountability. Those five police officers murdered my son. They beat him to death and they need to be held accountable along with everyone else that has something to do with my son’s murder.”
Scroll to continue reading
Meanwhile, the city’s lawyer said the lawsuit would “essentially bankrupt the City of Memphis,” according to court records, FOX 13 reports.
The city’s attorney issued a response to Wells’ request for a protective order preventing the city’s legal team from accessing Nichols’ text messages. The city claims these communications are crucial to their defense.
“(Wells) objects to the discovery of essentially any independent source of information about Mr. Nichols beyond what (Wells) or her immediate family members can provide. (Wells), understandably, seeks to present Mr. Nichols’s life story in a positive light. However, (Wells) attempts to prohibit any independent corroboration,” the city’s lawyer wrote.
The defense stated that Memphis is not trying to damage Nichols’ reputation, but identifying his friends and contacts is necessary for their defense in the $550 million lawsuit. The city’s lawyer argued that phone records could provide insight into Nichols’ actions leading up to the traffic stop and fatal encounter with police.
READ MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: Mixed Verdicts in Tyre Nichols Case: Three Ex-Officers Convicted of Witness Tampering | WATCH
