City of Memphis seeks to shield DOJ records from Nichols lawsuit

By , Daily Memphian Published: June 02, 2025 10:00 PM CT

The city wants to use the Department of Justice’s retreat from its civil rights investigation of the MPD as a tool to fight the lawsuit stemming from Nichols’ January 2023 beating and death at the hands of five now-former Memphis police officers. 

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city of Memphis U.S. Department of Justice
Samuel Hardiman

Samuel Hardiman

Samuel Hardiman is an enterprise and investigative reporter who focuses on local government and politics. He began his journalism career at the Tulsa World in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he covered business and, later, K-12 education. Hardiman came to Memphis in 2018 to join the Memphis Business Journal, covering government and economic development. He then served as the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s city hall reporter and later joined The Daily Memphian in 2023. His current work focuses on Elon Musk’s xAI, regional energy needs and how Memphis and Shelby County government spend taxpayer dollars.


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