The country is in uproar anticipating the release of the video footage in the Tyre Nichols case. But no one is feeling the pain more than Nichols’ mother and stepfather, RowVaughn and Ron Wells.
In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Don Lemon, Mrs.Wells recalled the moment she saw her son in the hospital.
“They had beat him to a pulp,” Wells said.
“When my husband and I got to the hospital and I saw my son, he was already gone.”
Wells said she received a call around 4 a.m. from doctors advising her and her husband to come to the hospital. The doctors told her that Nichols went into cardiac arrest and was suffering from kidney failure. Police came to her door, alerting her that her son was tased or pepper sprayed, CNN reported.
Wells was reportedly told by doctors his injuries didn’t “sound consistent” with those claims.
Nichols was pulled over by five Black officers in Memphis on January 7 for suspicion of reckless driving. After a reported “confrontation” occurred, Nichols died three days later.
According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Nichols died due to injuries caused by “use-of-force incident with officers.”
RowVaughn Wells hopes her son’s case will prompt the police force to remove what she calls “bad officers.”
She referred to the tendency of the Black community to only see “bad officers” as white. “People try to say Black people, we only try to go after White officers. That’s not true,” Wells said. “We know there’s a lot of great officers, I know…But there are bad officers, too. And those are the ones that we need to get rid of.”
She feels for the family of the accused officers, whom she told Don Lemon have brought shame to them as well as the Black community.
All five officers involved, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin, and Desmond Mills Jr., were fired from the Memphis Police Department and have been charged with second-degree murder.
RowVaughn Wells described Nichols to CNN as a “beautiful soul” who “touched a lot of people.” She recalled him saying, ‘hello, parents’ when he would visit.
“I don’t have my baby. I’ll never have my baby again,” Wells said.