Des Moines woman recalls friendship with Tyre Nichols when he lived in Iowa

By Kayla James

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    DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — One Des Moines woman tells KCCI she worked with Tyre Nichols when he lived in Iowa during the 2010s.

KCCI learned on Tuesday that Nichols lived in a home on the southeast side of Des Moines for some time. It’s not too far from that location where Chelsey Fagan says she met Nichols when they were teenagers.

“Anybody he encountered left with a smile,” said Fagan, who says she worked with Nichols at the Hy-Vee on Park Avenue. “He was just the person that you wanted to be around during a shift that would make it fun; that would make it just go by.”

Fagan and others remember Nichols as being kind, genuine and someone who radiated a positive energy.

Fagan says a lot of her best memories while working at Hy-Vee, involve Nichols.

“We used to have a basketball hoop in the breakroom,” Fagan said. “That’s just where we’d go play; have fun.”

Now, it’s a memory Fagan says she cherishes even more.

“Knowing that he’s not even going to have the opportunity to a ball again — it just hits in a different light because he should be teaching his son how to play basketball,” Fagan said.

Fagan doesn’t remember when Nichols moved away from Iowa. However, she says they were able to maintain contact over the years through social media.

Social media is also how Fagan says she found out what happened to Nichols.

“I was angry because that’s something that never should have happened to him; it shouldn’t happen to anyone,” Fagan said. “He should be doing all of these things that we once did ten years ago and he can’t do it anymore.”

Fagan says she plans on reaching out to Hy-Vee to fill out a donation request to see if they would be willing to donate to Nichols’ memorial fund.

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