Tyre Nichols was a 29-year-old Black male who moved to Memphis in 2020. He worked the second shift at FedEx, loved skateboarding and photography, had a four-year-old son, and suffered from Crohn’s Disease. On January 7th, he was stopped by a “Scorpion” unit of the Memphis police, a unit whose purpose was to crack down on violent crime. The preliminary police report indicated he was stopped for reckless driving, though a review of the police dashboard camera revealed no evidence to support that claim. After stopping Mr. Nichols, the police ordered him from his car, tazed him, pepper-sprayed him, and verbally threatened him.    

Mr. Nichols then ran from the police toward his mother’s house a few blocks away. The officers pursued him, again subdued him, and began to beat him with their nightsticks. The police issued 71 commands in a span of 13 minutes, including commands that were impossible to obey. For example, one officer told Mr. Nichols to show his hands while another officer was attempting to handcuff Mr. Nichols. In the videos, Mr. Nichols is never shown resisting the officers; the video records him calling for his mother. Mr. Nichols lost consciousness, and paramedics were called. According to reports, Mr. Nichols did not receive treatment for his injuries until sixteen minutes after the paramedics arrived. He succumbed to his injuries on January 10th. The preliminary autopsy indicates his death was caused by blunt force trauma to his head. 

The five officers on the scene have been fired from the Memphis Police Department and have been charged with murder in the second degree. All five officers are Black. Three Memphis Fire Department employees – two paramedics and one lieutenant, have been fired for failing to follow department guidelines in the treatment of patients.   

Having seen the video, it is clear to me that Mr. Nichols should not have died. If he was guilty of a crime, he should have been cuffed and taken to processing. One wonders why the five officers perceived him as such a threat. 

Law enforcement officials around the country have reviewed the tape and declared this incident should never have happened. My hunch is they are praying it never happens in their department. Because the officers and Mr. Nichols are Black, it is hard to say the crime was based on race. But Mr. Nichols death should not be dismissed as “Black on Black” crime. Perhaps Black officers can assume all young Black males are threats. Prejudice can be easily adopted. 

God warned Cain that sin was lurking like a lion, waiting to devour him. I wonder if Cain intended to kill Abel when he invited him to go out into the field. His jealousy and anger were simply brewing in his soul. Maybe Cain just wanted to rub Abel’s nose in the dirt or beat him up good to send him a message. Abel was doing his work when Cain’s anger came to a boil. Cain struck him and killed him. When God asked Cain where his brother was, Cain responded, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  God replied, “Your brother’s blood cries out from the ground.”  God doesn’t miss anything. 

Most of us want to believe such violence could never live in our hearts. We think we would never raise our hand to take someone’s life. I doubt the five Memphis police officers went out the door to work that day saying, “Good-bye Honey. I’ll be beating a man to death later on, so I might be late coming home.”  Jeremiah tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?”  Jeremiah is telling us we lie to ourselves about our own righteousness, our ways of thinking are twisted, and we don’t even know ourselves. 

I think this is why we need to regularly pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Test me and see if there is any wicked way in me.”  Until you know you have the capacity to commit evil, you will not deal with the reality of evil in your life. 

I wonder how different January 7th might have been if each of the five officers, before they went to work, had prayed, “O Lord, today, guide me in what is right. Search my heart and clean out anger, bitterness, and hate. May I treat others as I want to be treated. Amen.”  I wonder if Tyre Nichols might still be going to his job, his son would cry out, “Daddy!” when he came home, and he might be tasting his Momma’s good cooking. 

Then I wonder how different my day – and yours – would be if we paused and prayed, “O Lord, today, guide me in what is right. Search my heart and clean out anger, bitterness, and hate. May I treat others as I want to be treated. Amen.”