Incident narrative of Nichols traffic stop shows inconsistencies, DA has seen report

Published: Jan. 31, 2023 at 6:35 PM CST

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - An incident narrative of the Tyre Nichols’ traffic stop is attracting attention for its inconsistencies with the videos that were released Friday.

The report hasn’t been made public, but Memphis talk show host Thaddeus Matthews took to Facebook with a screenshot of the narrative written by an unknown member of law enforcement.

What’s given this screenshot traction is that Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy confirmed to Action News 5 Tuesday that he has seen a report with “many of the same accounts.”

While the statement hasn’t been made public yet, we can walk you through some of what was written.

The report was filed in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 8 at 4:40 a.m.

The narrative reads that Nichols was driving recklessly “at a high rate of speed” on Raines Road and that a traffic stop was conducted at the intersection at Ross Road.

It continues that Nichols “started to fight with detectives” and that Nichols was “irate when he exited the vehicle.”

For the two confrontations, both at the Ross and Raines intersection and the intersection of Ross and Castlegate, the narrative reads that Nichols reached for an officer’s gun, as well as other officers’ vests and utility belts.

What’s more is that the unknown writer of this report stated at the end that RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, arrived at the scene and advised first responders that her son “went out with friends” and that “they may have spiked his drink.”

We have heard Wells state repeatedly, she was never at the scene.

In a Friday press conference, Wells was in tears, saying, “I wasn’t there for my son. For me to find out that my son was calling my name... and I was only feet away but did not even hear him... you have no clue how I feel right now, no clue.”

Though it is mentioned in the video portion of this piece, the report was not written by a Shelby County Deputy.

The report is from MPD.

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