Tyre Nichols’ family dismisses rumor in Memphis man’s beating death after police stop

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A rumored relationship between Tyre Nichols and the wife or girlfriend of one of the five Memphis police officers accused of his murder is not true, according to his stepfather.

Speaking at a prayer vigil in Memphis Monday night, Rodney Wells sought to dispel the idea at a prayer vigil outside his home in Memphis Monday night, just yards from where his 29-year-old stepson was beaten senseless earlier this month.

“My son was not messing around with one of the officer’s wives,” he told supporters outside his home in Memphis in video shared by FOX 13. “That’s just a rumor.”

TYRE NICHOLS VIDEO: MEMPHIS AUTHORITIES RELEASE FOOTAGE FROM DEADLY TRAFFIC STOP

“Police tried to cover it up,” Wells continued. “They [are] still trying to spread rumors about my son that are not true.”

Police initially stopped Nichols at Raines and Ross Roads at 8:22 p.m. for alleged reckless driving. He broke free and ran to Castlegate Lane and Bear Creek Cove, just a few yards from his mother’s house, where police caught up with him again.

“To know that my son was calling out my wife’s name, and we [were] not able to hear him, to help him, was devastating,” Wells said.

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Attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who are representing Nichols’ family, did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

WATCH: Bodycam video shows Tyre Nichols pulled out of car, tasered: ‘Get on the ground’

And the implicated officers do not appear to reference an alleged affair at any point in the four videos released Friday.

Rumors nevertheless swirled after the animosity shown on videos that captured the deadly Jan. 7 encounter – which led to murder charges against five police officers in the city’s anti-crime SCORPION unit, which has been disbanded.

Nichols spent three days in the hospital before succumbing to his injuries, according to police. 

TYRE NICHOLS’ BROTHER AWAITS FATE OF 5 OFFICERS INVOLVED IN BEATING: ‘I HOPE THEY DIE’

The videos show two tense encounters.

In the first, bodycam video shows an officer arriving to a traffic stop in progress. Officers wrestle with Nichols on the ground before he breaks free and takes off running.

They caught up with him less than a half-mile away. Two bodycams and a pole-mounted camera captured the ensuing struggle.

Officers can be seen punching and kicking Nichols, hitting him with pepper spray and beating him with a baton before they finally prop him up against the side of a car.

He appears dazed and bloody.

 

Five officers each face more than a half-dozen charges, including second-degree murder. They have been identified as Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills and Justin Smith.

Additional officers, sheriff’s deputies and fire department members have been suspended, and internal investigations are ongoing, according to authorities.