The mother of Tyre Nichols has said that she is disappointed that it was five black police officers who brutally beat her son to death in Memphis on January 10 while he was on his way to her home.
Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, said the officers had disgraced their families and communities.
“I hate the fact that it was five Black men that actually did this to another Black man,” Wells told MSNBC. “My son probably was their age.”
The 29-year-old was near his mother’s home when it happened and called out for her as he was being beaten.
“They just brought disgrace to themselves,” she continued. “I’m not an evil person, my son is not an evil person … I pray for (the officers’) families because their families didn’t deserve any of this either.”
Nichols was a photographer and skateboarder and had been out taking photos of the Memphis sky just before the incident.
“I believe in my heart that my son was on assignment from God,” Wells said. “He finished his assignment and God took him back home.”
Wells has called for any protests in her son’s name to be remain peaceful.
All five former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — have already been arrested and charged with second-degree murder, among other charges.
Speaking to the Associated Press in South Carolina on Saturday, Trump said that it “should never have happened.”
“I thought it was terrible. He was in such trouble. He was just being pummeled. Now that should never have happened,” Trump said.
Trump also told the outlet that Nichols screaming for his mother was “a very sad moment.”
Joe Biden has also condemned the beating but brought race into it — even though all of the officers are black.
“Like so many, I was outraged and deeply pained to see the horrific video of the beating that resulted in Tyre Nichols’ death,” Biden said in a statement after the videos were released to the public. “It is yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day.”
“My heart goes out to Tyre Nichols’ family and to Americans in Memphis and across the country who are grieving this tremendously painful loss,” Biden said. “The footage that was released this evening will leave people justifiably outraged. Those who seek justice should not to resort to violence or destruction. Violence is never acceptable; it is illegal and destructive. I join Mr. Nichols’ family in calling for peaceful protest.”