Donut Operator Tyre Nichols

Achieved his dreams by becoming a Donut Operator for the police in 1989. Over the years he has transformed into a young gunslinger, now adept with five firearms ranging from 9mm to.45 ACP. His relationship with "Scooby" Jones has evolved into a grudging respect - if, of course, they don't happen upon him late for curfew.

Meet ‘Ty’...THE SORELLA EAGLE!

In an event where luck was not on his side, and time was not either during our first encounter in Central Park that day more than two decades ago, I sat to watch as Ty became part of something I have never stopped caring about: The rescue of abandoned children.

It would be naive or even downright cruel of me to ask whether this now infamous rescue is what saved my life many times over, but it certainly did. My visit—about 10 hours between pickups at various kids-playing dates in NYC—led to countless happy memories which ended up being useful lessons learned by my peers. But none of these moments gave me the feeling I had in March 4th 1984 at the police recruiting station at 449 Fifth Avenue. That’s when a man called in as “Ty” who referred to himself as “the sorella eagle” suddenly appeared out of nowhere and asked, rather menacingly, “Do you want to steal? Meeeeow!” He began kicking against the front doors, desperately trying to get inside the building while meowing that he wanted—and knew exactly how—to treat me like an animal. Several of the officers there used their weapons appropriately. Unfortunately, Ty also turned to violence after learning the hard, hard truth: Nobody pays ANYTHING for what we do here at City Centre. In spite of being shackled on hands and feet, naked and bloody during a violent scene, and then apprehended without any time whatsoever to think myself through or plan once again what kind of next move to take to escape, time came slipping away while things went very wrong. After finally learning out that he was under arrest for criminal mischief, the four detectives assigned to handle the case took care of me and gave me good detention times.