Tennessee Senate Republicans approved legislation Thursday that would overrule policing reforms established after Tyre Nichols was fatally beaten by five Memphis police officers last year.
The Memphis law enacted in 2023, and backed by Nichols’s family, made it illegal for police to conduct pretextual traffic stops, which occur when an officer stops a vehicle for an unrelated reason, such as a broken tail light, to conduct a speculative investigation of the vehicle. If approved by Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN), the new bill would undo the original ordinance and be applied statewide.
“It’s time to take handcuffs off police and put them on criminals where they belong,” said Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor, per the New York Times.
Democratic state Sen. London Lamar, however, called the Republican-approved legislation “extreme government overreach.”
“I pleaded with the sponsor to not run this,” said
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