'We're all Tyre': Family prepares to lay Nichols to rest

The family of Tyre Nichols plans to lay him to rest on Wednesday, three weeks after he died following a brutal beating by Memphis police after a traffic stop.

The family of Tyre Nichols plans to lay him to rest Wednesday, three weeks after he died following a brutal beating by Memphis police that was captured on disturbing video that prompted nationwide protests and renewed calls for police reform.

In those three weeks, five police officers were fired and charged with murder. Their specialized unit was disbanded. Two more officers have been suspended. Also fired: two Memphis Fire Department emergency medical workers and a lieutenant. And more discipline could be coming.

But Wednesday will be about Nichols, a 29-year-old skateboarder and amateur photographer who worked making boxes at FedEx, made friends during morning visits to Starbucks, and always greeted his mother and stepfather when he returned home with a sunny, "Hello, parents!"

Nichols was the baby of their family, born 12 years after his closest siblings. He had a 4-year-old son and worked hard to better himself as a father, his family said.

Nichols grew up in Sacramento, California, and loved the San Francisco 49ers. He came to Memphis just before the coronavirus pandemic and got stuck. But he was fine with it because he was with his mother, RowVaughn Wells, and they were incredibly close, she said. He even had her name tattooed on his arm.

Friends at a memorial service last week described him as joyful and kind, quick with a smile, often silly.

"This man walked into a room, and everyone loved him," said Angelina Paxton, a friend who traveled to Memphis from California for the memorial service.