Parents of Tyre Nichols, killed by Memphis police, named as State of the Union guests

The parents of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old skateboarder and FedEx employee killed last month by Memphis police, will be among those attending President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday in Washington.

The president is expected to discuss police brutality in the wake of Nichols' death in addition to proposing ways that Democrats and Republicans can cooperate on issues such as the federal budget and the economy. This will be the second State of the Union address of Biden's presidency.

Who are RowVaughn and Rodney Wells?

RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, Nichols’ mother and stepfather, have vowed to fight for police reform in the wake of their son’s death.

“This is a continuous fight,” Rodney Wells said at Nichols' memorial service, held Wednesday at Memphis' Mississippi Boulevard Baptist Church. "We have to fight for justice. We can’t continue to let these people brutalize our kids.”

On the GoFundMe page RowVaughn Wells created in the wake of her son's death, she described him as gentle, kind, quirky and joyful, a "beautiful soul" who "had never been in trouble with the law, not even a parking ticket.”

She could not bring herself to watch video footage of her son’s fatal beating when it was shown to her family on Jan. 27.

“For a mother to know that their child was calling them in their need, and I wasn't there for him, do you know how I feel right now?” she told mourners at Nichols’ funeral.

Michael Brown's father from Ferguson shooting will also attend SOTU

The couple has pleaded with Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a sweeping police-reform measure that was passed twice by the Democrat-controlled House before stalling in the Senate. Among other things, the bill would ban federal no-knock warrants and chokeholds such as the one that killed Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man killed by Minneapolis police officers in May 2020.

"We are going to get justice for Tyre if it's the last breath I take," RowVaughn Wells said.

In addition to Nichols' parents, Michael Brown Sr., whose teen son Michael's fatal shooting by police in Ferguson, Missouri, ignited furor nationwide and spawned the Black Lives Matter movement, is expected to attend the event.

Who was Tyre Nichols?

Nichols, who worked at FedEx with his dad, had been an avid skateboarder since he was 6. He’d moved to Memphis from California and had a 4-year-old son.

The Saturday afternoon of Jan. 7, the last time he would see his mom, she had been preparing to make sesame chicken, a dish he loved and hoped to have for dinner after heading out to take pictures of the evening’s sunset at a suburban Memphis park.

That evening, officers stopped Nichols for an alleged traffic violation. Footage released later by Memphis police showed the officers pepper-spraying and brutally beating Nichols with a baton and stun gun, even as he was restrained.

“I’m just trying to go home,” Nichols told them, ultimately calling for his mother.

Nichols died three days later in a hospital, suffering “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to an autopsy commissioned by his family.

He had his mother’s name tattooed on his arm.

Have officers been charged in Nichols’ death?

Five Memphis police officers – Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, Justin Smith and Tadarrius Bean – were swiftly terminated and charged with second-degree murder, among other charges. All are Black.

Two other officers were relieved of their duties. Memphis Fire officials also fired several employees for failing to provide adequate medical aid after arriving at the scene.

Will there be a federal investigation into Nichols' death?

Memphis’ specialized Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods Unit, a crime-reduction force to which the five charged officers belonged, was permanently shut down on Jan. 28.

The FBI and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have launched investigations into the traffic stop and Nichols’ death, and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has asked for a federal investigation of the Memphis Police Department itself.

How the Nichols family plans to honor Tyre

“My husband and I have had our entire world turned upside down by what happened to our son,” RowVaughn Wells wrote on GoFundMe. She hoped the proceeds would fund, in part, a memorial skate park in honor of his love of skateboarding and sunsets.

“The only thing that’s keeping me going is that I truly believe that my son was sent here on assignment from God,” she said at his funeral service. “And I guess now his assignment is done. He’s gone home.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What to know about Tyre Nichols: Parents to attend State of the Union