Tyre Nichols’ mother RowVaughn Wells vowed to fight to make sure that her son receives justice after he was beaten by police officers, which led to his death three days later in the hospital, during an appearance on The View on Monday, January 30. Speaking alongside her son’s stepfather Rodney and their lawyer Ben Crump, RowVaughn revealed how heartbroken she was to hear her son call out in the video footage taken of his confrontation with the police, and promised to keep fighting until he received justice.
Tyre Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, calls her son a "beautiful soul."
"He loved his son. He loved his family. He loved his mother," she tells #TheView. "Everyone that he came across, he touched in a positive way. He was just a beautiful person." https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/jP7EMEQYZv
— The View (@TheView) January 30, 2023
When asked what her reaction was to hearing Tyre call out for her in the police footage, RowVaughn said it was heartbreaking to hear. “As a mother, you want to be there to protect your child, and we could hear that he was calling my name, and I didn’t hear him. I wasn’t there to protect him,” she said. “It just hurts me to my core, and that’s why I am going to fight until I have no more breath to make sure that we receive justice for my son.”
Earlier in the interview, RowVaughn was asked to tell viewers about her son, and she fondly reflected on how so many people loved her son. “Tyre was a beautiful soul. Tyre, he loved his son. He loved his family. He loved his mother. He was just a beautiful person. Everyone that he came across, he touched in a positive way,” she said.
Later in the interview, she was asked what she would like Tyre’s legacy to be, and she said she wanted him “to be remembered as a beacon of light” and for “change” to come after his death. “There’s not a perfect person, but my son was damn near perfect. I just want the world to know that he was a beautiful person and that his legacy will be change,” she said.
Tyre’s stepfather Rodney was also clearly outraged at his son’s death. The police claimed he was pulled over for reckless driving, but Rodney pointed out that no evidence of reckless driving has been released. He said that cops pulled over Tyre when he “hadn’t done anything,” as he called for justice. “For them to continue to do what they were doing, it was like they were on a mission like they had already determined the outcome of what they wanted to do. It was like it was premeditated to a degree,” he said. “It was very, very hard to watch the video and to see what they did to my son, and I think all of them should pay, along with the white officer that was tasing my son. I don’t understand to this day how his name hasn’t been released, and how come he hasn’t been charged with anything.”
Following Tyre’s death, the five former Memphis police officers were fired, arrested, and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnapping, two charges of official misconduct, and one charge of official oppression. A sixth officer it was revealed has been placed on administrative leave after Tyre’s death, according to the New York Times.