The mother of Tyre Nichols has said she is “not going to stop” until every person responsible for her son’s death “is prosecuted to the fullest of law”.
RowVaughn Wells was speaking to US news network MSNBC a day after Memphis Police released bodycam footage showing her son screaming “mom, mom” several times as he was attacked by officers.
Ms Wells said: “I believe in my heart that my son was on assignment from God. He finished his assignment and God took him back home.
“Even though this tragedy happened to my son, I truly believe that there is going to be a greater good that comes out of this.
“And that is what keeps me going to get this justice for my son, because I’m not going to stop until every person that had anything to do with my son’s death is prosecuted to the fullest of the law.”
Warning: This article contains violent images
Ms Wells went on to say that the officers she believes killed her son had “shamed their own families” and continued: “You shame your communities. You just brought a bad taste to everybody’s mouth.
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“I hate the fact that it was five black men that actually did this to another black man. My son probably was their age.
“They just brought disgrace to themselves. I’m not an evil person, my son is not an evil person…. I pray for (the officers’) families, because their families didn’t deserve any of this either.”
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Image: RowVaughn Wells, mother of Tyre Nichols. Pic: AP
Ms Wells and Mr Nichols’ stepfather also repeated their call for people to protest in a non-violent way.
Mr Nichol’s mother earlier said in the same interview: “Tyre was a beautiful person, he was full of life, as you can see he loved to skateboard, he loved to watch the sunsets. He was a great dad.
“He was just a good person. There’s no perfect person in this world, but he was close to it.”
Image: Tyre Nichols called out for his mother three times as he was being beaten
Ms Wells has spoken after Memphis Police announced the SCORPION (Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace in Our Neighbourhoods) unit, that the five officers charged with murder over the father-of-one’s death were members of, has been “permanently deactivated”.
Memphis Police said in a statement: “In the process of listening intently to the family of Tyre Nichols, community leaders, and the uninvolved officers who have done quality work in their assignments, it is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the SCORPION unit.
“The officers currently assigned to the unit agree unreservedly with this next step.
“While the heinous actions of a few casts a cloud of dishonour on the title SCORPION, it is imperative that we, the Memphis Police Department take proactive steps in the healing process for all impacted.”
The move comes after Memphis Police released bodycam footage showing Mr Nichols screaming for his mother while being beaten by officers.
The footage shows police attacked the 29-year-old for three minutes while shouting profanities at him.
Mr Nichols was 80 yards (73 metres) from his family home, according to his mother.
Police have released four separate videos cut into one hour-long clip, including police bodycam footage and footage from a CCTV camera.
Five officers have been charged with second-degree murder and other crimes, including assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression over Mr Nichols’ death.
Image: An officer beats Tyre Nichols with his baton
In the footage of the attack, one camera shows the initial police stop at an intersection in Memphis, Tennessee.
“I’m going to baton the f*** out of you,” one officer can be heard saying. His body camera shows him raise his baton while at least one other officer holds Mr Nichols.
After the first officer roughly pulls Mr Nichols out of his car just after 8:20pm on 7 January this year, the FedEx worker can be heard saying “I didn’t do anything” as a group of officers begins to wrestle him to the ground.
“Get on the ground!,” one officer yells, as another is heard shouting: “Tase him! Tase him!”
The father-of-one calmly replied soon after being wrestled to the pavement: “OK, I’m on the ground.”
Image: Police hold a taser to the leg of their suspect
Moments later, as the officers continue to shout, Mr Nichols says: “Man, I am on the ground.”
An officer yells: “Put your hands behind your back before I break your (expletive).”
Moments later an officer shouts: “Put your hands behind your back before I break them.”
“You guys are really doing a lot right now,” Mr Nichols says loudly to the officers. “I’m just trying to go home.”
“Stop, I’m not doing anything,” he yells moments later.
The camera is briefly obscured and then Mr Nichols can be seen running as an officer fires a Taser at him. The officers then start chasing Mr Nichols.
He is then punched, kicked and hit with a baton. After the beating, officers mill about for several minutes while Mr Nichols lies propped up against the car, then slumps onto the street.
Image: Tyre Nichols is seen trying to flee as a Taser is pointed at him
Emergency workers with what looks like medical equipment attend, but do not immediately intervene.
He died on 10 January, three days after the violent arrest.
The officers involved have been dismissed by Memphis Police Department’s Chief of Police, Cerelyn Davis.
Ms Davis, who became the force’s first black female boss in 2021, previously called for “sweeping changes and police reform” in the aftermath of the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Image: Officers stand around as Tyre Nichols is slumped against a car
Meanwhile, influential civil rights campaigner Al Sharpton said the US has a “new clock” on police accountability following the quick arrest and firing of five officers charged over the death of Mr Nichols.
Speaking at a rally in Harlem, New York, Reverend Sharpton also rejected the idea that there was no race element to the fatal beating of Mr Nichols by the officers just because they themselves are black.
Making a speech at a weekly National Action Network rally, he said: “So there’s a new precedent set now ‘cos this black women police chief messed you up now – ‘cos she said I’m not waiting on nothing – arrest them, fire them.
“You now got a new clock on police accountability. We don’t want to hear no year investigation.”
Image: Clockwise from top left: Police officers Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III, Tadarrius Bean and Desmond Mills Jr have been charged with murder. Pic: Shelby County Sheriff’s Office
Addressing the involvement of race, he said: “One person said to me well at least it ain’t about race.
“I said the race part of it is those black guys thought they could get away with doing it to a black guy.
“You know you couldn’t get away with doing that in Tennessee to a white guy – and you won’t get away with doing it to a black guy either.”
Meanwhile, at a news conference of city leaders held on Saturday, state representative Joe Towns Jr, echoed the comments of Reverend Sharpton on the force’s prompt investigation.
He also said police chief Ms Davis had his full support, praising her for taking “swift action”.
The comments came as a memorial fund set up in the aftermath of Mr Nichols topped $535,000 (£433,000).
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‘They killed a man who looked like me’
The GoFundMe page, set up by Mr Nichols’ mother, is aimed at helping to pay for a memorial skate park in his honour, as well as to allow his family time off from their jobs to grieve and seek justice.
Protests are taking place in at least nine cities across the US – including Memphis – after the bodycam footage was released.
Mr Nichols’ mother had earlier warned supporters of the “horrific” nature of the video but pleaded for peace saying “tearing up the streets” is “not what my son stood for”.
US President Joe Biden said he was “outraged and deeply pained to see the horrific video of the beating that resulted in Tyre Nichols’ death”.
“It is yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that black and brown Americans experience every single day,” he added.
On Day 77, US correspondents Mark Stone and David Blevins answer your questions on everything from Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and their impact on American consumers, to Trump’s relationship with Putin and if they have plans for the Arctic, and penguins.
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Thousands of people gathered in various cities across the US as protests against Donald Trump and Elon Musk took place in all 50 states on Saturday.
Around 1,200 demonstrations were planned in locations including Washington DC, New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida – just miles away from where the US president has this weekend played golf.
The “Hands Off!” protests were against the Trump administration’s handling of government downsizing, human rights and the economy, among other issues.
In Washington DC, protesters streamed on the grass in front of the Washington Monument, where one person carried a banner which read: “Make democracy great again.”
Image: Thousands gathered in Washington DC to rally against various Trump policies. Pic: AP
Image: Pic: AP
Another protester took aim at Mr Trump‘s handling of Russia and Ukraine, with a placard that read: “Stop Putin’s puppets from destroying America.”
Tesla boss Mr Musk also featured on many signs due to his role in controversial government cuts as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Image: Demonstrators in NYC. Pic: AP
Image: People marching in Atlanta, Georgia. Pic: Reuters
Image: A rally in Vermont. Pic: The Brattleboro Reformer via AP
Terry Klein, a retired biomedical scientist, said she drove to the rally to protest Mr Trump’s policies on “everything from immigration to the DOGE stuff to the tariffs this week, to education”.
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“I mean, our whole country is under attack, all of our institutions, all the things that make America what it is,” she added.
Image: A drone view of the protest at the Utah State Capitol building. Pic Reuters
Image: A protester sports a Handmaid’s Tale costume. Pic: Reuters
Image: Pic: Reuters
Some at the various protests carried Ukrainian flags, while others sported rainbow attire and waved rainbow flags in support of the LGBTQ+ community.
Other protesters wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and carried “Free Palestine” signs.
Protesters refuse to take Donald Trump’s policies lying down
It was built to honour George Washington, a founding father of the United States.
And in the shadow of the 555ft Washington Monument, protestors were refusing to accept Donald Trump’s policies lying down.
“Stand tall,” they chanted, again and again.
“In every city, stand tall. In every state, stand tall. In truth, stand tall. In justice, stand tall.”
Those words, shouted by thousands on the city’s iconic mall, were reinforced by the words on their placards and t-shirts.
A minister, wearing a t-shirt with ‘Troublesome Priest’ printed on it, told me she found what was happening in the US government “appalling and immortal”.
One man said he had won the long-distance award, having travelled 2,750 miles from Hawaii for the protest.
“I finally reached a breaking point,” he added. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Another woman said: “We have to speak up, we have to act, we have to do something, because this is not America.”
I asked her what she would say to those who argue the people did speak when they elected Donald Trump as president.
She replied: “Some people have spoken and then some people have not and those of us that have not, we need to speak now.”
Thousands marched in New York City’s midtown Manhattan and in Boston, Massachusetts, while hundreds gathered in the sunshine outside the Utah State Capitol building in Salt Lake City, and in the rain outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio.
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Mr Trump – who shook financial markets with his tariffs announcement this week – spent the day in Florida, playing a round of golf before returning to his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Image: People protest in Manhattan. Pic: Reuters
Image: Activists in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Pic: AP
Some four miles from Mar-a-Lago, more than 400 people gathered – and drivers honked their horns in support of protesters who held up signs including one which read: “Markets tank, Trump golfs.”
The White House has said Mr Trump plans to go golfing again on Sunday.
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.