by Sary Mansour encountered Tire Nichols at a Starbucks in Memphis less than a week before five police officers fatally beat him.
They had worked together for a few years in 2014 at a Verizon store in town. They initially fought over who got the most sales, but soon they started hanging out at their manager’s house or at team bowling events, where they got to know each other better. They lost touch after Nichols moved to Sacramento for a few years, but their chance meeting at Starbucks gave them a chance to catch up. Nichols told Mansour about his young son and how he found life again in Memphis.
Nichols was laid-back, funny, sensitive and a gregarious person, Mansour tells TIME. “When it came to talking to women or anyone, he knew how to start a conversation. He had a lot of play; he was very charismatic,” he says.
Thousands of mourners gathered for Nichols’ funeral in Memphis on Wednesday, where his family celebrated and remembered his life. Rev. Al Sharpton, national civil rights attorney Ben Crump and mothers of other victims of police violence, including Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, also played prominent roles.
Sary Mansour (second from left) and Tire Nichols (far right) are pictured with their colleagues while working on a Verizon story in Memphis.
Sary Mansur
“Tyre was a wonderful person and it’s just unimaginable that that would happen to him,” said RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, through tears. “I promise you the only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I truly believe my son was sent here on a commission from God and I guess now his commission is done and he has been taken home .”
Wells and others speaking at the funeral, including Vice President Kamala Harris, called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a comprehensive police reform bill that would set a national standard for police departments and increase data collection on encounters with would require police to enforce a federal ban on strangleholds.
“When I think of the courage and strength of this family, I think it demands that we speak the truth; this act of violence was not in the pursuit of security; it was not in the interest of public safety,” Harris said.
Nichols’ siblings reminisced about their childhood at the funeral. His brother told a story about how Tire got its name—a name originally intended to be his brother’s. (It was after the character Tyree in the 1980s American western film Silverado.) Nichols’ sister shared a poem. The first line read: “I’m just trying to go home; Is that too much; I have not broken any laws along the way.” Another sister recalled that Nichols was among the easiest siblings to take care of because all he wanted to do was watch cartoons and eat a bowl of cereal.
The body of Tire Nichols, a 29-year-old black man who was fatally beaten by Memphis police officers, is wheeled into Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 2023.
Desiree Rios—The New York Times/Redux
Mansour did not attend the funeral but has spent the last few days reminiscing about their time together. He recalls watching Nichols struggle with anxiety and his father’s terminal illness. “Even after going through those troubles with his parents, he still found a way to stay sane,” he says.
Nichols — an avid skateboarder — often brought his skateboard to work and even did flips at the mall where the Verizon store was located, Mansour recalls.
One of Mansour’s favorite memories is of Nichols hiding in a giant 3D pop-up model to scare his co-workers. “I see it moving and I think there’s no way. And the next thing I know, he was screaming my name and jumping out,” he says.
Nichols was a big fan of the San Francisco 49ers soccer team and was very family-oriented, Mansour says.
Mansour was out with friends when he viewed official video of the incident, released by the city last week. He describes the incident as “disgusting”. “If you look at the police, it seems like there’s something more personal,” he said. “It’s more sad than shocking.”
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