Tyre Nichols' family demands punishment for retired Memphis cop DeWayne Smith who was involved in his death
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE: The stepfather of Tyre Nichols, the man who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers during a traffic stop, is demanding punishment for a retired police supervisor who retired with benefits just before being fired for his involvement in the incident. Rodney Well spoke at a rally at the National Action Network headquarters, saying that the community will not allow the lieutenant, identified as DeWayne Smith, to escape the consequences of his actions, the NY Post reported.
"For that lieutenant to be able to retire thinking he will be able to escape the consequences of his actions, we aren’t going to let that happen. The community isn’t going to let that happen,” said Rodney Well.
READ MORE
'That shield doesn’t empower you to go out and commit murder'
Several records obtained by media outlets revealed as reported earlier that Smith was on the scene during the beating and failed to get Nichols medical attention or remove his handcuffs despite hearing him say, "I can't breathe." Smith also falsely claimed that Nichols was driving under the influence and on drugs or drunk, without evidence, leading to the other officers using excessive force. Seven officers were fired after Nichols' death, and five of them were charged with second-degree murder.
“That shield doesn’t empower you to go out and commit murder. Hopefully, through all of this, we will get justice for Tyre and justice for all the other families that are going through this hardship,” Well said during his appearance in Harlem, as per the media outlet.
'I already saw what they did to my son'
Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, spoke about how officers came to her door to tell her that her son had been arrested for driving under the influence. She was confused because she knew her son did not drink like that and did not behave as described by the officers. She described her son as a "good boy" who was turning his life around for his five-year-old son. Nichols died three days after the assault, and Wells did not watch the videos of the beating, saying that she did not need to see how they did it because she had already seen what they did to her son. “I was kind of confused because my son doesn’t drink like that. He has an occasional beer every blue moon, but not the way they were describing,” she said as per the report.
'He had a 5-year-old son'
"He was just going to live his life and he got his life together because he had a 5-year-old son,” she said. “He was less than 800 feet from where they caught him and they murdered and beat him to death", she further added.
Wells also claimed that she didn't view the footage of Nichols' violent beating, in which he screamed for his mother. Three days later, he passed away. “I didn’t watch the video because I didn’t need to see the video. I already saw what they did to my son. I didn’t need to see how they did it,” she said in her heartbreaking statement.