Most weekends, Tire Nichols would head to the city park, point his camera at the sky, and wait for the sun to go down.
“Photography helps me look at the world in a more creative way. It expresses me in a way that I can’t write for people,” he wrote on his website. She preferred the scenery and loved the brilliance of the sunsets more, her family said.
“My vision is to bring my viewers into what I see through my eyes and through my lens,” Nichols wrote. “People have a story to tell, why not capture it.”
Nichols, a 29-year-old father, was on his way home from taking pictures of the sky on January 7 when police stopped him. He was just minutes from the home he shared with his mother and stepfather when five Memphis police officers brutally attacked him.
TIRE NICHOLS’ LAST WORDS HEARD ON BODYCAM IMAGES JUST RELEASED: ‘I’M JUST TRYING TO GET HOME’
An undated photo of Tire Nichols, a 29-year-old black man. Five Memphis police officers have been charged with second degree murder and other crimes after fatally attacking Nichols during a traffic stop in Memphis Tennessee on January 7, 2023.
(Accio Berry)
He died three days later at a hospital, and officers have since been charged with second-degree murder and other crimes.
“No one is perfect, no one. But it was very close,” his mother, RowVaughn Wells, said at a news conference this week, moments after seeing video of her son being beaten. “He was damn near perfect.”
He was the baby of his family, born 12 years after his closest siblings. He had a 4-year-old son and worked hard to become a better father, his family said. He was an avid skateboarder from Sacramento, California, and he came to Memphis just before the coronavirus pandemic and got stuck. But he was fine with it because he was with his mother, and they were incredibly close, Wells said. He had his name tattooed on his arm.
Friends at a memorial service this week described him as cheerful and adorable.
“This man walked into a room and everyone loved him,” said Angelina Paxton, a friend who traveled to Memphis from California for the service.
Growing up in Sacramento, Nichols spent much of his time at a skate park on the outskirts of the city. Sometimes it can be a difficult place for younger children. But when Niko Chapman was 10, his parents let him walk to the park by himself as long as they knew Nichols was there.
“You remember people being very nice to you, and Tire was a very nice person,” Chapman said. “He always made me feel very welcome.”
TIRE NICHOLS’ MOTHER URGES PEACEFUL PROTEST: ‘I DON’T WANT US TO BURN OUR CITIES down’
Tire Nichols’ mother and stepfather, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, and religious and community leaders come together to mourn the loss of the 29-year-old during a press conference.
(Scott Olson)
Chapman’s father, Curtis Chapman, led a youth group at a local church that often met at the skate park for pizza. Nichols quickly became a regular, bringing his energetic spirit and quick wit to the table. But away from the group, Nichols would often show up at the Chapman house to talk about life, including being a young father.
“What drew me to Tire was that he’s real,” said Curtis Chapman. “He was talking about being a father and wanting to be a good father and seeking advice.”
There was a Bible study on Thursdays that Nichols attended with his friend Brian Jang. One day the group watched a sermon on how the world is full of distractions. Jang said Nichols was so touched that he took out his flip phone and dropped it in a cup of water.
“I thought it was amazing, just to see his growth and his commitment,” Jang said.
The last time Jang saw Nichols was in 2018 in the food court of a local mall. The two hadn’t seen each other in a while, but Jang said Nichols came up behind her and gave her a big hug as the two caught up with him.
“Honestly, it’s quite devastating to see such a fine human being go through such unnecessary brutality, such unnecessary death,” Jang said.
His mother said she raised him to openly love everyone, until they give you a reason not to. So Nichols was quick to make friends.
DEATH OF TIRE NICHOLS: NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ERIC ADAMS ‘BETRAYED’ BY MEMPHIS OFFICIALS
This photo provided by the Nichols family shows Tire Nichols, who had a passion for photography and was described by friends as cheerful and adorable.
(Courtesy of the Nichols family via AP)
In Memphis, Nichols went to Starbucks every morning, and Nate Spates Jr. hung out with him there. They chatted about sports or life. Spates was with his wife once when they met Nichols there, and they all talked for a couple of hours. Spates later said his wife commented: “He has such a good spirit and soul and a calm presence.”
Nichols worked second shift at FedEx with his stepfather. Every day, they came home together on their break at 7:00 pm and her mother had a meal waiting for them.
Wells said she had offered to buy her son Jordans, the popular sneakers, but he didn’t want them.
“He was just his own person,” he said. “He didn’t follow what the others were doing.”
When I wasn’t working, I would go to the park to skateboard and take pictures. His website, called This California Kid, begins with an invitation: “Welcome to the world through my eyes.”
TIRE NICHOLS PROTEST IN ATLANTA REMAINS PEACEFUL AFTER ACTIVATION OF 1,000 NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS
Tire Nichols protesters block traffic on a Memphis freeway.
(Jon Michael Raasch/Fox News)
He included a gallery of what he considered his masterpieces: black-and-white bridges and train tracks, the neon lights of Beale Street at night. He took pictures of pink flowers, sunsets over the Mississippi River, fields of grass, statues of Elvis. He highlights a quote from another photographer: “A good photographer must love life,” he begins.
After watching video of her son’s death, she stood with her family and lawyers at a lectern, trembling, to convey what the world lost.
A lawyer described the beating shown in the video, “he was a human piñata”, and Wells turned his head and covered his face with his hands.
In the video, which was released Friday, Nichols is heard saying she just wants to go home, family attorneys said. She was less than 100 meters from her mother’s house.
The lawyers described the last words Nichols is heard saying: calling her mother three times.
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An unkicked photo of Tire Nichols.
(Accio Berry)
“Oh my God,” she wailed as they spoke. “Oh Lord.”
She is still waiting for him to walk through the door every day at 7 pm.
“It’s not even real to me right now. I don’t have any feelings right now,” she said. “I know my son Tire is no longer here with me. He will never walk through that door again.”
