Tyre Nichols’ family said the body camera footage of his encounter with police has left them furious, devastated, and seeking more information about why he was brutalized. His stepfather, Rodney Wills, and mother, RowVaughn Wells, talked live with ABC News Live Friday night after the footage was released, saying they hope the public examines every minute of the tape to see how terribly the cops harmed their son.
During the incident, Nichols, 29, can be seen in the video screaming out for his mother. RowVaughn Wells told ABC News that even though she wasn’t present for him in his final moments, she felt his pain. “I had a lot of pain and discomfort in my stomach and didn’t know what it was,” she explained.
Rodney Wells claims the footage proves his son was never a threat to the authorities. “I simply want them to understand why they charged these cops with murder,” he added. “It is unheard of for an individual weighing 150 pounds to be brutalized by five officers, and we needed the public to see it so they could make their own decision.”
RowVaughn Wells claimed that the police told her her son had been tased and pepper sprayed, but when she saw the extent of his injuries in the hospital, she understood it was a far more brutal incident. “They had him hooked up to all of these breathing apparatus. He’d already gone into cardiac arrest and his kidneys were failing, so it just surprised me because I’d been told something else “She stated.
Nichols’ stepfather stated that the video showed additional officers and first responders ignoring his son’s safety and demanded that they be charged. During an interview with ABC, RowVaughn Wells, Tyre Nichols’ mother, sits with her husband, Tyre’s stepfather Rodney Wells.
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“So everyone [who] was involved in the entire scene…should be charged,” he said. According to Ben Crump, the family’s attorney, the footage raises more concerns about who was involved. One of the recordings shows an unidentified white police approaching Nichols at the start of the exchange, and Crump questions why that officer was not prosecuted.
Two Shelby County sheriff‘s deputies who were present at the scene of the police confrontation were stripped of their duty pending an investigation, the county’s sheriff stated Friday. Their identities were not revealed right away.
Tyre Nichols: A video of his altercation with Memphis police has been published. Crump reaffirmed his requests for the SCORPION unit of the Memphis Police Department to be disbanded. RowVaughn Wells, Tyre Nichols’ mother, sits with her husband, Tyre’s stepfather Rodney Wells, and human rights attorney Ben Crump during an ABC News interview on January 27, 2023.
“You have a man physically laying there in pain, dying, and people are acting as if nothing is wrong. How many more times would they have done this if Tyree hadn’t died from his injuries, and how many times have they done it before? “He stated.
Nichols’ mother said she will miss her son’s smile and generous attitude toward his family, but that he had completed God’s task for him. “That’s what keeps me going because I’m not going to stop until my son gets justice,” she explained.