The lawyer representing the family of Tyre Nichols, Ben Crump, said Friday that it is "police culture in America that killed" the 29-year-old in Memphis following an alleged traffic stop on Jan. 7.
Speaking at an event ahead of the release of bodycam footage, Crump called for systematic change among all police officers regardless of the color of their skin.
"Black people have simple encounters with police [and] they end up dead," he said. "We don’t hear about these things with our White brothers and sisters."
"And that’s where we got to continue to speak to this police culture in America," he added.
Details surrounding the incident where Nichols was pulled over and then severely beaten, tasered and sprayed with pepper spray by five Black police officers has remained unclear as the investigation continues.
But the release of bodycam footage Friday evening is expected to provide some clarity when it comes to the incidents surround Nichols’ death.
All five police officers face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.
The family have applauded the swift action taken by the Memphis police department in handling Nichols’ attack, but Crump suggested that the swiftness of action could speak to the fact that the police officers were Black and not White officers, as in other high-profile cases like George Floyd, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and others.
"We have never seen swift justice like this," Crump said. "Justice didn’t move swiftly for them when they were killed by White officers."
Nichols’ family, who originally called for murder in the first degree, said they were happy with the charges that have been brought forward and with the steps taken by the Memphis Police Department.
"We do not want any type of uproar. We do not want any type of disturbance," Rodney Wells, stepfather to Nichols said. "We want peaceful protests.
"That's what the family wants," he added ahead of the footage’s release.
Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, also spoke and thanked all the supporters and activists who had turned out to support the family and push for justice for Nichols.
In an emotional address, she confirmed that she has not seen the bodycam footage but said, "What I've heard is very horrific."
Crump said during the event that in his "last words on this earth" Nichols cried out for his mother three times, saying, "Ma. Ma. Ma."
Nichols’ mother became visibly upset at this point, and when asked about it later during the event she said, "For a mother to know that their child was calling them in their need, and I wasn’t there . . . do you know how I feel right now?"
"You have no clue how I feel," she added upset.
"No mother should go through what I'm going through right now," she said. "I want to say to the five police officers that murdered my son: you also disgraced your own families when you did this."
RowVaughn Wells said she would pray for anyone responsible for the death of her son.
