Tyre Nichols’ mom sought a mere $10,000 to help get mental health treatment — but more than 30,000 people have donated over $1 million.
“He loved skating” and “was known as someone ‘you know when he comes through the door he wants to give you a hug’ and that ‘he wouldn’t hurt a fly,'” she said of the FedEx worker.
The money will help “build a memorial skate park for Tyre, in honor of his love for skating and sunsets,” his mom said.“He had never been in trouble with the law, not even a parking ticket. He was an honest man, a wonderful son, and kind to everyone. He was quirky and true to himself, and his loss will be felt nationally,” she wrote.
The fundraiser noted how Memphis’ own top cop has acknowledged there appears to be “no evidence to substantiate” the initial decision to pull over Nichols for reckless driving, and that “Tyre was unarmed, nonthreatening, and respectful to police during the entire encounter!” The Tennessee force later shuttered the specialist “SCORPION” unit that some of the officers were a member of.As for Nichols fleeing the arrest, Wells wrote: “It turns out that he was just trying to get to my house for safety — which was only a few blocks away from where the incident happened.Even so, she used her GoFundMe to again call for “people to protest in peace.”“I don’t want us burning up our cities, and tearing up the streets because that’s not what my son stood for,” she said.
Five Memphis cops — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — were fired and then charged with second-degree murder.
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