NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday signed off on the repeal of police traffic stop reforms made in Memphis after the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by officers in January 2023, despite pleas from Nichols' parents to GOP lawmakers and the governor to give them a chance to find compromise.
The Republican governor's signature means the law immediately renders some of Memphis' ordinances null and void, including one that outlawed so-called pretextual traffic stops, such as for a broken taillight and other minor violations. Lee echoed arguments from Republican lawmakers who argued Nichols' death needed to result in accountability for officers who abuse power, not new limits on how authorities conduct traffic stops.
"I think what's most important for us to remember is that we can give law enforcement tools, but we've got to hold law enforcement to a standard of using those tools appropriately, where there's an appropriate interaction with the public," Lee told reporters of his decision to sign the bill. "That's not what we understand has happened all the time, and certainly their family would attest to that."
Nichols' death last January sparked anger and calls for reforms nationally and locally. Videos showed an almost 3-minute barrage of fists, feet and baton strikes to Nichols' face, head, front and back, as the 29-year-old Black man yelled for his mother about a block from home.
Nichols' parents, mother RowVaughn Wells and stepfather Rodney Wells, were among the advocates who drummed up support for the Memphis City Council last year to pass ordinance changes.
Many Republican elected officials in Tennessee also joined in the public outcry over Nichols' death at the time. The month afterward, Lee even mentioned the Nichols family in his annual State of the State speech, saying "their courage, along with the compassion shown by the people of Memphis, is a picture of hope."
Yet the majority-white Legislature has repeatedly rebuffed many Black leaders' call for police reforms and oversight and instead have sided with advocates who don't want new limits on police authority.
In recent years, lawmakers have reacted similarly when they disagree with how Democratic-voting Memphis and Nashville run their cities. They have preempted local power to undo progressive policies, taken more authority over local boards, and kept a hard-line approach to crime in Memphis.
Five officers, who were also Black, were charged with federal civil rights violations in Nichols' death and second-degree murder and other criminal counts in state court. One has pleaded guilty in federal court. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating how Memphis Police Department officers use force and conduct arrests and whether the department in the majority-Black city engages in racially discriminatory policing.
Information for this article was contributed by Kimberlee Kruesi and Adrian Sainz of The Associated Press.
FILE - 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, Tenn. A judge on Friday, March 8, 2024, indefinitely postponed the state court trial of four former Memphis officers charged with second-degree murder in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols until after the conclusion of a federal court trial on civil rights violations. (AP Photo/Karen Pulfer Focht, file)