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The family of Tyre Nichols said on Friday they plan to be at every court date of the five former Memphis police officers who are indicted on second-degree murder charges for the death of the 29-year-old.
Speaking outside the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center after the five former officers submitted not guilty pleas, Nichols’s mother RowVaughn Wells said Friday was just the beginning of the process.
“I’m waiting for this nightmare basically that I’m going through right now, I’m waiting for somebody to wake me up,” she said. “But I also know that it’s not going to happen okay, I know my son is gone. I know I’ll never see him again. We have to start his process of justice right now.”
“I want each and every one of those police officers to be able to look me in the face,”
she continued. “They haven’t done that yet. They couldn’t even do that today. They didn’t even have the courage to look at me in my face after what they did to my son. So they’re going to see me at every court date – every one – until we get justice for my son.”
Nichols was stopped on Jan. 7 by Memphis police for reckless driving, though officials later said there was no evidence to substantiate the reckless driving claim. Nichols ran from police officers, who eventually caught up to him and kicked, punched and beat him with a baton for three minutes. Graphic video footage of the beating was released to the public in late January. Nichols died from his injuries on Jan.
