Tyre Nichols’ parents, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, plan to be in court as fired Memphis detectives Justin Smith, Tadarrius Bean and Demetrius Haley go on trial Monday in the beating death of their son after a traffic stop in 2023, NPR reports. “You're the mother. You want to make sure that what they're saying is correct and you want to make sure that everything is going accordingly,” says RowVaughn Wells. “So you have to sit there and listen, even though you don't want to.” The former police officers are charged with depriving Nichols of his rights through excessive use of force, failure to intervene and obstruction of justice for conspiring to cover up what happened. Disturbing surveillance and body cam video released by the Memphis police department shows the officers, all also Black, using pepper spray and a taser on Nichols after a traffic stop. Nichols can be heard saying he didn’t do anything wrong and trying to cooperate with the police until he flees. Later, the footage shows Nichols back in custody, on the ground as the officers repeatedly beat him. One lashes him on the back with a baton; another kicks him in the head. Nichols cries out for his mother several times. He’s left visibly and audibly struggling as more law enforcement arrives at the scene. Nichols, 29, died three days later.
An autopsy classified his death a homicide from blunt force trauma. “I'm curious to see how they're going to try to maneuver out of this, because the video don't lie,” says RowVaughn Wells. The Wellses are bracing for defense lawyers to make it sound like their son was in the wrong for resisting the officers, but they say the video makes clear he was confused and in fear. Two of their former colleagues could be key witnesses in the case after changing their pleas and cooperating with prosecutors. Last month Emmitt Martin pleaded guilty to excessive use of force, and misleading superiors and others about his conduct. “Today we are all witness to Mr. Martin accepting responsibility for what he did,” said Stephen Ross Johnson, Martin’s attorney. “Driven by anger, Emmitt Martin used excessive force on Tyre Nichols on January 7, 2023. Driven by fear, he tried to cover it up.”