House blocks Memphis police reform, blindsiding the family of Tyre Nichols

MARIANNA BACALLAO A measure that would roll back police reform in Memphis after the& death of Tyre Nichols& has passed the Tennessee House. The 68-24 vote came as a surprise to several Memphis lawmakers and Nichols’ family. After police fatally beat Nichols at a traffic stop last year, the city of Memphis passed several ordinances changing how police interact with drivers — barring unmarked cars from being used in traffic stops and stopping officers from pulling over a driver for a minor violation, like the one that lead to Nichols’ death. If& HB1931& becomes law, it& would prevent local governments from passing& anything that would interfere with stopping crime. “When they stopped our son Tyre, they came up with all these different excuses as to why they stopped him, but as we all know, none of those excuses panned out,” RowVaughn Wells told reporters earlier this week, when she and her husband, Rodney Wells, traveled to the Tennessee Capitol to speak against the measure. “Too many parents going through what we’re going through unnecessarily,” Rodney Wells said. The Wells family visited the capitol on Tuesday when the measure was originally set to be heard on the House floor. The Wells...