Snopes: “On Jan. 30, 2023, a number of tweets and memes went viral, claiming that Haley and Nichols were connected prior to the assault, and allegedly through Haley’s ex-girlfriend or ex-wife. These rumors were reportedly refuted by Nichols’ stepfather, and, so far, none of the claims have been substantiated by an independent investigation, or any other parties involved. …
We do not know the identity of the woman people are claiming is at the center of this incident. Nor do we know whether Nichols’ involvement with a woman connected to Haley has anything to do with what occurred in early January.
CBS News reported the following: Nichols did work at a FedEx in Memphis. He was a father of a young boy. On the night of the attack, Nichols was returning home from a suburban park, where he had taken photographs of the sunset, according to his family’s legal team. The team added that the five police officers beat him for three minutes straight.
John Best, a general manager for Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ radio stations per LinkedIn, claimed to have met Nichols’ parents, who reportedly said the rumors were not true. According to his Facebook post, the parents said, “SQUASH THAT RUMOR ABOUT OUR SON DATING ONE OF THOSE OFFICERS WIVES/GF. PLEASE SQUASH THAT RUMOR THAT IS NOT TRUE.””