NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Republicans moved Thursday to overrule a change to the policing of Memphis, Tennessee, traffic laws that was a direct response to the death of Tyre Nichols, who was fatally beaten by officers last year during a traffic stop.

A new Memphis law, supported by Nichols’ family and seen by many as a crucial reform in the weeks after his death, had prevented the police from intervening over more minor traffic offenses, such as a broken taillight.

On Thursday, the Republican-dominated legislature passed a bill prohibiting any local law that prevents the police from making traffic stops “based on observation of or reasonable suspicion” that someone in a car had violated the law. The bill now heads to Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican.

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Background

The legislation does not directly name Memphis or the law, which was overwhelmingly approved by the City Council after Nichols’ death last January. But the Memphis Republicans who led the push to override the ordinance explicitly criticized it as an impediment to controlling crime.

It remains unclear why Nichols was stopped. Police officers brutally beat and kicked him despite his efforts to comply with their demands. The violence, captured on camera, horrified the nation and led to further scrutiny of the Memphis Police Department and its heavy handed tactics.

What It Means: Fears of increased crime override calls for police reform.

Republicans had rallied around the measure as a means of reducing crime in the state, listing instances where a minor traffic infraction had led officers to uncovering drug trafficking and violent crimes.

“It’s time to take handcuffs off police and put them on criminals where they belong,” said state Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis.

But Democrats warned that the Republican supermajority was undoing a key reform. “It’s a slap in the face,” said state Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, adding that the ordinance did not impede efforts to stop reckless driving or violence in the city.

Republicans, however, denied that the bill would cause additional harm.

Behind the Tensions: A running fight between the legislature and Tennessee’s biggest cities.

The Republicans in control of state government have repeatedly taken aim at the autonomy of Tennessee’s largest, and largely Democratic-led, cities.

In the past couple years, the legislature has sought to exert its authority over Nashville and Memphis, whose leaders are increasingly at odds with the Republican proposals in the legislature. Nashville, in particular, has battled legislation that would shrink the size of its council and overtake the board of its airport authority.

“We have to do everything in our power to protect local control when it comes to matters of life and death of our community,” state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, told reporters Thursday.

Tyre Nichols’ family: ‘We worked too hard to get this passed.’

Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, and his stepfather, Rodney Wells, drove from Memphis to the state Capitol in Nashville repeatedly this month, pleading with lawmakers to allow the law to remain in place.

“Coming back to Nashville is the easy part because we want to see justice done,” Wells said Thursday. “We worked too hard to get this passed.”

But the pair, after speaking with Taylor, the lead Senate sponsor, left before it was debated. Taylor confirmed that he declined their request to delay debate and passage, adding afterward that he “thought it best to go ahead and have closure for the family and also the community back home.”

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