The mother of Tyre Nichols, the Black man who died days after an encounter with Memphis police officers, criticized law enforcement personnel for their actions that led to her son's death.
RowVaughn Wells made the remarks during an interview on Friday, her very first after five police officers involved in the death of her son were criminally charged. She said that the law enforcement personnel "put their own families in harm's way."
Tyre Nichols' Death
She added that their actions brought shame to their families and the entire Black community. Speaking through tears, Wells said that she felt sorry for the police officers because they did not have to do such a heinous act.
The law enforcement personnel involved in the death of the 29-year-old were identified as all Black men; Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin, and Desmond Mills, Jr. All five officers were fired from the Memphis Police Department on Jan. 20, 2023.
Following the incident, they were also charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnapping, two charges of official misconduct, and one charge of official oppression, as per CNN.
Police authorities said the victim was pulled over by law enforcement personnel on Jan. 7, 2023, for suspected reckless driving. At that time, a "confrontation" occurred between the two sides. Three days after, on Jan. 7, 2023, Nichols' death was announced by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation due to injuries sustained during the encounter.
Officials added that the injuries were received in a "use-of-force incident with officers." In a statement on Friday, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis said that police had yet to find substantial probable cause for reckless driving by the victim before his fatal encounter with the five police officers.
The 29-year-old Black man was allegedly overpowered and abused by the police officers, said Wells, saying they beat her son like a pinata. She noted that if you combined all of the suspects' weight, it was well over 1,000 pounds, which beat her 150-pound son to death.
Body Camera Footage
The Nichols family's lawyers said that video footage from body cameras of the police officers involved in the case has yet to be released to the public. They said that the video showed that the victim was beaten by law enforcement personnel during the stop, calling not only violent but savage, according to the New York Times.
The representative of the victim's family is civil rights attorney Ben Crimp, who said nobody should ever lose their life from a simple traffic stop. He added that body camera footage was the only way to properly discern the true narrative of why and how the horrific crime happened to Nichols.
While the footage of the victim's arrest has not yet been made public, the family of Nichols was given a copy to review. According to BBC, some people who saw the encounter in the recording used the words "sickening" and "appalling" to describe the encounter.