Rumors that there was a personal component to the case circulated after Tyre Nichols’ death by five Memphis Police officers. I reported:

It all began with a rumor.

Sir Maejor, an ethnically black actor and model with a fair complexion due to albinism, tweeted Monday that “I am being told that Tyre Nichols was in a relationship with and worked at a Memphis @FedEx with #MemphisPolice Demetrius Halys’s ex-girlfriend & baby mama.” Not only that, but “After the beating Officer Halys took a picture of #TyreNichols face and sent it to his baby mama.”

Maejor wrote in all capitals, “This is just speculations or a rumor at the moment — This information was not confirmed.”

In the case of the five ex-officers being decertified, new documents were sent to Tennessee’s state board. They confirm that Demetrius did indeed take Nichols’ photographs after the beating. Demetrius also sent images to six other people, one of whom was a female acquaintance.

Memphis Police Department. To support its request that the board decertifies officers involved in beatings, the Peace Officer Standards and Training submitted a statement of allegations to the Peace Officer Standards and Training.

WREG Memphis gathered these documents and included a screen from a section of its report:

Note:

He was handcuffed and you took two photographs on your cellphone while taking photos of the clearly injured subject.

According to the documents, Haley also sent Haley’s photo to a sixth person, which is against police policy.

Many are questioning the official narrative, that Tyre Nichols was just another unarmed victim of racist, poorly-trained officers.

Sherrilyn Forill, an ex-NAACP counselor and Senior Fellow at Ford Foundation demanded that the entire story be told.

I have tried to ignore the rumors that this attack on #TyreNichols was targeted and not random. But the confirmation that this ofcr sent this photo to other ofcrs and “a female acquaintance” has raised alarm bells. We need the entire story. ASAP. https://t.co/bwhiqcqqKV

— Sherrilyn Ifill (@SIfill_) February 8, 2023

“It is claimed that Tyre was in an affair [sic] with one the officers’ girlfriends.”

It will be interesting to see if this turns out to be true. The Tyre Nichols chapter of the “systemic racism, police brutality” narrative will end.