California officials dedicated a skate park Sunday in honor of Tyre Nichols, the Black man who was fatally beaten by police during a traffic stop in Memphis earlier this year.
Nichols, who would have turned 30 on June 5, was a regular at the Sacramento skate park before moving to Tennessee at the start of the pandemic to be closer to his parents, according to ABC News
.City officials, along with Nichols’ family, celebrated the occasion in an emotional ribbon-cutting ceremony. Keyana Dixon, Nichols’ sister, said her brother’s untimely death didn’t allow for him to see his dreams come to fruition; however, the skate park helps to eternally illustrate his love for skateboarding.
Dixon’s hope is that Nichols will be remembered as a “fun, kind and free-spirited young man that did not deserve any of what happened,” The Sacramento Bee reported.
In February, councilwoman Lisa Kaplan announced plans for the park during a memorial for Nichols held at Sac Ramp Skate Shop. “This skate park represents the hope of a future,” Kaplan said Sunday. “We need to remember our past and make the future better. No mom should ever have to worry about losing their son or daughter over a traffic stop.”
On January 7, Memphis police pulled over the 29-year-old Nichols, who was heading home after spending his evening taking pictures of the sky. A few minutes from his parents’ house, he was accosted by five officers, causing him to be hospitalized for three days before succumbing to his injuries.
The officers, who are all Black, currently face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression, according to ABC News. All of the officers have been fired from the department. The Nichols family is seeking $500 million in damages from the Memphis Police Department.