Jury selection was scheduled to begin Monday in the federal trial of three former Memphis officers charged with violating the civil rights of Tyre Nichols , the 29-year-old man whose fatal beating was caught on police cameras while also triggering protests and calls for police reform.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith have pleaded not guilty to charges that they deprived Nichols of his rights through excessive force and failure to intervene, and obstructed justice through witness tampering.
Nichols was pulled over in his car in January 2023, and he ran from police after he was yanked out of the vehicle. Officers caught up with Nichols and pummeled him in a Memphis neighborhood, police video showed .
Jurors will be selected from a pool of about 200 people. The trial is anticipated to last three to four weeks and will draw media from around the country. Nichols' family is expected to attend the trial.
Nichols, who was Black, died in a hospital on Jan. 10, 2023, three days after he was kicked, punched and hit with a police baton. Police video released later that month showed five officers, who also are Black, beating Nichols as he yelled for his mother about a block from his house. Video also showed the officers milling about and talking with each other as Nichols sat on the ground, struggling with his injuries.
