Rowvaughn Wells, the mother of Tyre Nichols, broke down repeatedly during a gripping CNN interview that included a wrenching description of her visit to the hospital after her son’s beating at the hands of police in Memphis.
Tensions are high as the nation awaits the release of body cam video of the deadly beating of 29-year-old Black man Tyre Nichols.
Mr. Nichols died on Jan. 10 following a Jan. 7 traffic stop during which police beat him. On Thursday, five officers were charged with murder in the case. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced the charges against former officers Emmit Martin III, Justin Smith, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Desmond Mills — all of whom were fired a week ago.
On Friday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, Lemon interviewed Ms. Wells and Tyre’s father Rodney Wells, as well as family attorney Benjamin Crump for an intense 27-plus minutes.
In one devastating portion of the interview, Ms. Wells harrowingly described seeing her son in the hospital and described what had been done to him:
When I asked them where my son was, they said, nearby. Nearby? What is nearby? I got nothing from them.I think now that I’m actually putting things together, I believe they were trying to cover it up when they first came to my door. Mmhmm.So around 4:00 in the morning, the doctors called from Saint Francis and said, Mrs. Wells, do you know
your son’s in the hospital? And I said, Yes. I was advised by the police officers. He said, Why aren’t you here? And I said, The police officer said that I couldn’t come because he was under arrest.The doctor proceeded to tell me that my son had went into cardiac arrest and that his kidneys were failing. This doesn’t sound consistent to somebody being tased or pepper sprayed.When my husband and I got to the hospital, and I saw my son? He was already gone. They had beat him to a pulp. He had bruises all over him. His head was swollen like a watermelon. His neck was busting because of the swelling. They broke his neck. My son’s nose looked like a “s.” They actually just beat the crap out of him.And so when I saw that, I knew my son was gone then. Even if he did live, he would have been a vegetable.
Ms. Wells was overcome several other times during the riveting interview, including when reminded that her son called out for her during the beating.
Watch the full interview above via CNN This Morning.