NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee bill that would resume pretextual traffic stops in Memphis, which was halted in 2023 after a series of ordinances passed Memphis City Council following the death of Tyre Nichols, passed the Tennessee State Senate Thursday and is headed to Gov. Bill Lee's desk.
The bill passed with a 26-6 vote tally in the state senate, despite Memphis lawmakers speaking out and urging the bill to fail. Sen. Raumesh Akbari and Sen. London Lamar, both from Memphis, were among those speaking out against the bill.
“I am grateful to my colleagues for understanding how important routine traffic stops are to restore law and order in our community,” said Memphis State Sen. Brent Taylor. “It’s time to take handcuffs off police and put them on criminals where they belong. I am dedicated to doing all I can to get crime under control and make Memphis matter. We must continue to work to save our city. Tennessee cannot be successful if its most famous city is sliding into chaos.”
“The Memphis community is facing a crime crisis,” Memphis Republican Rep. John Gillespie said. “When local governments restrict police officers from carrying out their sworn duty to uphold our laws, we make every community in Tennessee more dangerous. This bill sends a strong message that Tennesseans are serious about enforcing the law and permitting our brave officers to do their job without unnecessary interference from local politicians.”
“Tyre Nichols's unjust death highlights the need to hold police officers accountable for misconduct and brutality," said Bryan Davidson, the ACLU of Tennessee policy director. "Legislators rolling back much-needed police reforms – through ordinances that were adopted in a unanimous bipartisan manner by locally elected officials – is not only antidemocratic and deeply tied to white supremacy, but also makes our communities less safe."
“I pleaded with the sponsor to not run this,” said Sen. London Lamar, a Democrat from Memphis, whose district includes where Nichols was killed. “Because it’s a slap in the face. Not only for our city council, but all the local governing bodies in this state, because we’re telling them you are not smart enough to decide policies to help govern your own city.”
“This is extreme government overreach,” Lamar added.
The vote comes a week after the same bill passed in the Tennessee House of Representatives.
House Republicans held the vote March 7 as Democrats accused Gillespie of being misleading about when the bill would come up again, resulting in Nichols' parents not coming to the Capitol in Nashville when the vote was held.
Democratic Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis said Gillespie lied to Nichols' parents that the bill wouldn't be heard that day. Following passage of the bill in the Senate, Pearson tweeted, "This is the pride of an evil person who said to Mrs. RowVaughn Wells and Mr. Wells, as they asked to meet with him and delay this bill, that their son would be dead anyway. Painful and unbelievable and disgusting!"
Gillespie, meanwhile, told reporters he offered to arrange a meeting during a conversation Tuesday with Nichols' stepfather Rodney Wells and mother RowVaughn Wells. Gillespie said he "feels horrible that they feel this way, but I told them this bill was on the calendar today and that my intention was adding an amendment if I was allowed."
"My heart goes out to that family. I have had multiple conversations with that family," Gillespie told lawmakers. "However, I do not set the calendar here."
In a news release, Nichols' parents said Gillespie had told them Wednesday not to attend Thursday "because he did not plan to bring the bill to the floor."
"The Memphis ordinances, which we view as part of Tyre's legacy, were crafted with the goal of preventing future tragedies and fostering trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve," Nichols' family said in a news release.
The state bill "not only undermines these efforts, but also disregards the collective voice of the people who tirelessly advocated for change," they said.
“Memphis is an independent city, so to speak. It’s not like any other city in Tennessee. It’s majority Black," Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, told reporters Thursday. "Fair is fair. We worked too hard to get this passed for it to be overturned like this.”
The Nichols family released a statement Thursday, saying, The city of Memphis worked tirelessly to get ordinances passed in Tyre’s name, so this bill hurts us deeply. Local Memphis leaders tried to speak with the state legislators pushing for this legislation, but they were brushed off –– as were we. This legislation was clearly targeted to take down the ordinances named after our son, and while we miss him dearly, this is about so much more than Tyre. There are many other Memphians that have experienced pretextual stops with police that ended with violence. Our goal was to create something in Memphis that could protect our community, but even after doing so, our success is fleeting. We wish that instead of this political sabotage, we could have come together to discuss what is working and what isn’t. Compromise could have happened, but we were never given the opportunity to try.”
Gillespie said he brought the bill because people in his area are "begging for safer streets." Another Republican supporter, Rep. Lowell Russell of Vonore, said the bill is a "no-brainer" and a "vote to back the blue."
Former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, whose term ended Dec. 31, said he did not enforce the traffic stop ordinance and others passed after Nichols' death because he thought they were illegal. New Mayor Paul Young has said he would enforce them. Young is among those urging lawmakers to reject the state rollback bill.
Lawmakers and Memphis citizens have shown frustration with an increase in overall crime in 2023, which includes a city-record 398 homicides and a jump in auto burglaries to more than 14,000. Memphis City Council chair JB Smiley Jr. cited the statistics during a meeting about retaining Davis as police chief under Young.
Young and the council kept Davis as interim police chief. Davis has been under the spotlight during the crime increase and after Nichols' death.
The Memphis-Shelby County Crime Commission reported that the overall crime rate increased by 7.2% in Memphis and 6% countywide last year compared with 2022. The last three months of 2023 saw the crime rate drop 6.4% in Memphis and 7.2% in the county compared with the last quarter of 2022, the commission said.
Law enforcement was "very proactive" in addressing car thefts, including handing out 10,000 free wheel locks and using an auto theft task force, commission president Bill Gibbons said in a news release.
In November, Republican Gov. Bill Lee announced that about 55 Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers, would come to Shelby County to patrol roads and highways.
