Mother of black Tire Nichols who died after police assault: ‘Please don’t let your children see the images’ | Abroad

The press conference took place in the run-up to the release of the bodycam footage of the brutal arrest of Tire Nichols. The family already got to see these images before they are made public on Friday. Violent demonstrations are expected in the US after the release of the images.

Ben Crump, the lawyer for the family of Tire Nichols nicknamed the “black attorney general” in the US, praises the Memphis police department for firing the officers involved – all black – quickly after the incident and is pleased that the five will be prosecuted immediately. “This has to be the new blueprint,” he says, referring to similar cases involving white cops where sanctions and prosecution take much longer. “Black and white cops should be treated equally.”

Tire Nichols’ family wants police reforms to prevent black and brown people from being killed unjustly, Crump says. He argues for a law requiring officers to intervene in the event of misconduct by their colleagues. “It is not the first time that this police unit has used excessive force against black citizens,” he said. The lawyer refers to a black agent who reported excessive violence by her colleagues against a black man and was evicted herself in retaliation.

Lawyer Antonio Romanucci, who also represents the family, calls on the police chief to disband the “SCORPION Unit” (Scorpion stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods), the unit in Memphis to which at least some of the officers involved belong . That unit consists of uniformed and plainclothes officers who are tasked with reducing the crime rate in certain parts of the city. In reality, it is a unit now known for misconduct, brutality and an excessively harsh approach to minorities and the weak in society, he says.

Rodney Wells, the stepfather of Tire Nichols, says he is satisfied with the fast approach of the officers. He asks the population to demonstrate peacefully. “We want peace,” he says. “We don’t want any kind of riot or disturbance. We want peaceful protests,” Wells stressed. “Please argue, but argue safely.”

“My son always said he would be famous one day,” says RowVaughn Wells, Tyre’s mother. “I didn’t know this is what he meant.” The woman herself did not look at the bodycam footage of her son’s abuse, “but what I heard is very horrific,” she reports. “If you have children, please don’t let them see them.” She herself has not yet had time to mourn, says the woman. “This should not have happened. My son should have been with me today,” said the mother. “He loved me and I loved him very much. No mother should be allowed to go through what I’m going through, to lose her child the violent way I lost my child.” Wells struggles with the thought that her son called her name during the attack and that she couldn’t be there for him at the time. “My son wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty close,” she says.