Tyre Nichols: Last words of US man who died after police ‘beating’ were ‘mum, mum, mum’, says lawyer
The final words of a US motorist who died after he was allegedly beaten by five police officers were “mum, mum, mum”, according to a lawyer.
Tyre Nichols, 29, passed away in hospital three days after the confrontation following a traffic stop in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, on 7 January.
Bodycam footage of the altercation is expected to be released later on Friday evening.
His family said the “very horrific” video showed officers savagely beating the FedEx worker for three minutes in an assault their lawyers likened to the Los Angeles police attack on motorist Rodney King in 1991.
Tyre Nichols
Five sacked officers, who are all black, have been charged with second-degree murder and other crimes, including assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression, over Mr Nichols’s death.
Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who is representing his family, said when the public watches the footage they will see him calling out for his mother.
He said: “When you all see this video, you’re going to see Tyre Nichols calling out for his mum.
“He calls out three times for his mother. His last words on this earth are, ‘mum, mum, mum’. He’s screaming for her. When you think about that kidnapping charge, he said ‘I just want to go home’.”
“It’s a traffic stop for God’s sake. A simple traffic stop.”
RowVaughn Wells, the mother of Tyre Nichols. Pic: AP
Mr Nichols’s mother, RowVaughn Wells, told reporters: “For a mother to know their child was calling them in their need and I wasn’t there for him. Do you know how I feel right now? Because I wasn’t there for my son.”
Ms Wells recalled she had “a really bad pain in my stomach” and once she found out what happened she realised “that was my son’s pain that I was feeling”.
“For me to find out my son was calling my name, you have no clue how I feel right now,” she added, struggling to hold back tears.
Clockwise from top left: Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III, Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith have been sacked
She also said she had not yet seen the video but urged anyone with children not to let them watch it.
“I have never seen the video but what I have heard is very horrific.”
She added the charged officers had “disgraced their families”.
“I want to say to the five police officers who murdered my son, you also disgraced your own families when you did this.
“But I am going to pray for you and your families. Because this shouldn’t have happened. We want justice for my son.”
She has pleaded for peaceful protests.
Police pulled Mr Nichols over for alleged reckless driving before there was an “altercation” where officers used pepper spray on him, according to Shelby County district attorney Steve Mulroy.
Mr Nichols then tried to flee on foot and another altercation followed, he added.
His family say the officers beat him and the injuries he sustained during the encounter led to his death.
Relatives accuse police of causing him to have a heart attack and kidney failure. Authorities have only said he experienced a medical emergency.
The officers were assigned to the ‘scorpion’ unit which focuses on violent street crime. The family’s lawyers want it to be disbanded.
Memphis police chief Cerelyn Davis has said the department will review scorpion and other specialised units.
President Joe Biden said the Nichols family and the city of Memphis deserve “a swift, full and transparent investigation”.
“Public trust is the foundation of public safety, and there are still too many places in America today where the bonds of trust are frayed or broken,” he added.
Donald Trump did not take the stand in his hush money trial, as jurors could start deliberating on whether or not he is guilty next week.
Mr Trump, 77, is accused of falsifying business records over hush money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to his 2016 presidential campaign.
But on day 20 of the trial, the former president’s defence rested without calling him to the stand. Instead, former federal prosecutor Robert Costello was called as the final witness.
Follow latest: Defence rests case without calling Trump
Judge Juan Merchan said he expects closing arguments to happen on 28 May. Jurors have been dismissed until then, and could begin deliberating as soon as next week to decide whether or not Trump is guilty.
Ever since the outset of the trial in April, Trump had asserted he would testify in his own defence despite it being uncommon for defendants to do so.
‘[Testfying] just would have been folly for the defence team,’ Trump said on Tuesday. Pic: Reuters
The former president also falsely claimed a gag order placed on him by judge Merchan prevented him from speaking in court.
‘We’ll be resting pretty quickly’
Sky News’ US correspondent James Matthews also heard Trump tell reporters ahead of Tuesday’s proceedings: “We’ll be resting pretty quickly. I won’t be resting.
“I don’t rest, I’d like to rest sometimes but I don’t get to rest.”
The prosecution alleges the former president tried to cover up a $130,000 payment to Ms Daniels, who told the court she had a “sexual encounter” with Trump at a celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe in July 2006.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records over hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. Pic: Reuters
Though the hush money payment itself is not illegal, the former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide his reimbursement to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who initially paid for the transaction.
Cohen testified that a number of invoices, cheques and stubs were false records made to cover payments to Ms Daniels, and said none of them were for work carried out in the months to which they corresponded.
Trump has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers say there was nothing criminal about the Daniels deal or the way Cohen was paid.
Cohen lied under oath
The former president’s defence have also attempted to discredit Mr Cohen, who admitted during the trial that he lied under oath.
Defence lawyer Todd Blanche said on Monday: “There is no way that the court should let this case go to the jury relying on Cohen’s testimony.”
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Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen testified a number of invoices, cheques and stubs were false records. Pic: Reuters
Trump’s lawyers also moved to have judge Merchan dismiss the case before jury deliberations, arguing there was no evidence that Trump had committed the crimes.
The judge did not immediately rule on the request by the defence.
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And speaking outside the courtroom after the defence rested, Donald Trump Jr defended his father’s choice to not testify and repeated claims that the trial is politically motivated.
“Why would you justify this insanity? You don’t subject yourself to that. You’re going in a kangaroo court, nothing more nothing less,” he said.
“There’s absolutely no reason or justification to do that whatsoever. Everyone sees it for the sham that it is.”
Joe Biden has said “what is happening in Gaza is not genocide” following an arrest warrant request by the International Criminal Court prosecutor for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US president branded the warrant request as “outrageous,” adding “whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas.”
“What’s happening in Gaza is not genocide. We reject that,” Mr Biden said at a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House.
He said American support for the safety and security of Israelis is “ironclad”.
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan KC has applied for arrest warrants to be issued for Israel’s prime minister and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar over alleged war crimes.
He is also seeking arrest warrants for Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant – and other top Hamas leaders Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri, more commonly known as Deif (commander-in-chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the al Qassam Brigades), and Ismail Haniyeh (head of Hamas’s political bureau).
Analysis: Netanyahu given a label he will never shake
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant. Pic: Reuters
Mr Netanyahu said: “As prime minister of Israel, I reject with disgust the Hague prosecutor’s comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas.
“With what audacity do you compare Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, decapitated, raped and kidnapped our brothers and sisters and the IDF soldiers fighting a just war.
“No pressure and no decision in any international forum will prevent us from striking those who seek to destroy us.”
In a statement, Mr Khan outlined the reasons his office was applying for the arrest warrants.
“Now, more than ever, we must collectively demonstrate that international humanitarian law, the foundational baseline for human conduct during conflict, applies to all individuals and applies equally across the situations addressed by my office and the court,” he said.
Yahya Sinwar Pic: Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock.
“This is how we will prove, tangibly, that the lives of all human beings have equal value.”
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On the Hamas leaders, he said he has reasonable grounds to believe they “bear criminal responsibility” for “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
He outlined a list of alleged crimes, including murder, taking hostages and rape and other acts of sexual violence.
“We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Israel by Hamas and other armed groups pursuant to organisational policies. Some of these crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day,” he said.
On Mr Netanyahu and his defence minister Mr Gallant, Mr Khan said he has reasonable grounds to believe they too “bear criminal responsibility” for “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
He outlined a list of alleged crimes, including “starvation of civilians” and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population”.
“We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to state policy. These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day,” he said.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Benny Gantz, a former military chief and member of Israel’s war cabinet, harshly criticised Mr Khan’s announcement, saying Israel fights with “one of the strictest” moral codes and has a robust judiciary capable of investigating itself.
South Africa, which has been leading a genocide case against Israel, welcomed the news Mr Khan was seeking the arrest of Israeli and Hamas leaders.
“The law must be applied equally to all in order to uphold the international rule of law,” the office of South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said.
France and Belgium each released statements supporting the request for arrest warrants.
“France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence, and the fight against impunity in all situations,” its foreign ministry said in a statement late Monday.
It came around the same time Belgium’s foreign minister Hadja Lahbib posted on X: “Crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators.”
Police are investigating the source of the ketamine which killed actor Matthew Perry, it has emerged.
Perry, who was best known for playing wise-cracking Chandler Bing in Friends, died at his LA home last October after being found unresponsive in a swimming pool.
A post-mortem found his death was an accident from “the acute effects of ketamine”.
Ketamine is a sedative that can be used as a recreational drug, as well as to treat depression.
Read more: Matthew Perry – A life in pictures
Los Angeles Police Department says it is working with the Drug Enforcement Agency as part of an investigation into why Perry, 54, had so much ketamine in his system at the time of his death.
People close to Perry told investigators that he was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy – an experimental treatment – according to his autopsy.
The medical examiner wrote however that Perry’s last treatment was one and a half weeks before his death and would not explain the levels of ketamine in his blood.
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From October: Remembering Matthew Perry
Perry, who was 54, had also drowned in “the heated end of his pool” in what the medical examiner described as a secondary factor in his death.
They added he had “reportedly been clean for 19 months”. Perry regularly spoke about his battle with addiction – including a near-death experience in 2019 after his colon burst as a result of opioid use.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Perry recalled one instance when fellow Friends star Jennifer Aniston confronted him about being inebriated while filming.
“I know you’re drinking,” he remembered her telling him.
“We can smell it,” she said in what Perry called a “kind of weird but loving way” – adding: “The plural ‘we’ hit me like a sledgehammer.”
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Speaking to NBC’s Today presenter Hoda Kotb on her Making Spaces podcast in March, Perry’s stepfather said the star “felt like he was beating” his battles with addiction.
Keith Morrison, an award-winning correspondent for Dateline NBC, said his stepson “didn’t get to have his third act, and that’s not fair”.
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