[THEME MUSIC] - Good evening, everyone. I'm Phil Lipof in for Linsey Davis tonight. Thanks for streaming with us. We are coming back on the air tonight as the nation grapples with the shockingly new released video of yet another Black man killed at the hands of police. Largely peaceful protests have kicked off across the country tonight calling for change, as they have again and again and again. This protest specifically in New York City. We have seen protests in Philadelphia and, of course, Memphis, Tennessee, as well. Our team has vetted the newly released arrest video, and we'll bring you parts of it throughout the night. The first is of Nichols being pulled out of the car by officers. We had to bleep a lot of this video out, but this is the moment he gets pulled from the car. And we do want to warn you, this is disturbing and really difficult to watch. - Give me your hands. Give me your hands. Give me your hands. - You want to get sprayed again? - Hey! Hey, mane! - Get him! Get him! - Hit him, bruh! - Mom! - Watch out! Watch out! - Mom! Mom! What are you doing? - Give me your hands! - Mom! Mom! - Hey. Give me your hands. Give me-- - What's that? All right, all right. All right. - Give me your fucking hands. Give me your hands. TYRE NICHOLS: All right. OK. All right. - All of it's horrifying, and then you hear him calling for his mother at the end of that particular piece. ABC's Elwyn Lopez is in Memphis tonight, sitting down with the family of Tyre Nichols and their attorney, Ben Crump. This is a live interview, and this is really the first time the family has been able to react publicly to the police arrest footage. Elwyn? - Thank you all so much for joining us, especially during this difficult time. This video has now been released to the public. This is the first time that many are taking a look at it. What do you want people to take away from this? - I just wanted them to see why they charged these police officers with murder. This video illustrates exactly what happened on those streets that night. This also justifies our son, showing that he was no threat to them. For a individual to weigh 150 pounds and to be brutalized by five officers is unheard of, and we needed the public to see it so that they could make their own judgment. ELWYN LOPEZ: Mrs. Wells, you describe this as God's assignment. Can you tell me more about that? - Well, [CLEARS THROAT] I just feel like my son was sent here on an assignment. His assignment was fulfilled, and God took him home. Now, that's my belief, that's what I hold on to, and that's what keeps me going, because I'm not going to stop until I get justice for my son. ELWYN LOPEZ: And you were telling me that he was watching the sunset, taking pictures-- - Yes. - --when he was on his way home and stopped by these officers. - Yes. He was on his way home. He goes to Shelby Farms every weekend to watch the sunset. That's his passion. He would go to skateboard or-- you know. But he was on his way home. - And you told me that he was really close to his home when he was calling your name. I know you haven't taken a look at the video, but you told me that you felt something happening. - Yes, I felt a lot of pain and discomfort in my stomach. And at the time, I didn't realize what it was. But once I found out, then I just said, that was my son's pain that I was feeling. ELWYN LOPEZ: Calling out for you? - Yes. ELWYN LOPEZ: During his last moments? - Yes. - You described to me, also, the moment that you saw him in the hospital, that you finally got a look at what they had done to your son. - Yes. ELWYN LOPEZ: Tell me about that. - Well, as I told you earlier, I was told that he was only pepper sprayed and tased. However, when I got to the hospital, my son was beaten up. He had bruises all over his body. His head was the size, almost, of a watermelon. His neck was busted because of the swelling. His neck was broken. My whole son's body was just black and blue. They had him on all these breathing machines. He'd already went into cardiac arrest, and his kidneys were failing. And so it just shocked me because I was told something else. ELWYN LOPEZ: And then you arrived at the hospital and saw something totally different. - Totally different. And I knew then my son was already deceased. He was just-- they were just-- the doctors had him on the breathing machine. ELWYN LOPEZ: But he wasn't breathing on his own? RODNEY WELLS: No. - No. - In the video, you see other officers outside of the five officers who were charged. Now, for the first time, we saw the first incident, also the second altercation. What do you want people to know about the full extent of the video? And what would you like to see happen to others who are there? - I feel that everyone there should be charged from both scenes, the first one and the second. Everyone. That's the paramedics. That's the fire department paramedics that came out, that stood around and didn't do anything. They're just as guilty. So everyone that was active in the whole scene, the whole video, should be charged. ELWYN LOPEZ: And, Mr. Crump, you were talking about the same thing, that some of the people there were not charged, and you would like to see charges brought against those officers and the paramedics. - Well, we certainly have questions now that we see this video, and we can study it a little more. In the first five minutes of the release of the video, people started commenting on social media that there was a white police officer there that was engaging with Tyre, but we didn't hear anything about him. And so that raises a lot of questions. Why wasn't he charged with anything? And, really, the whole Scorpion Unit, this unit should be disbanded. Attorney Romanucci and Mr. Ali and the rest of our legal team, we were talking. And when you look at how this unit was operating with such brutality, such excessive force, how can you feel safe if you're a citizen in Memphis, where people are having that mentality that they can just go out here and trample on the constitutional rights of citizens in certain communities? - We were talking as well about the officers' behavior after this incident and some of the things that we saw on camera. Can you describe that for me? - Oh, it was-- BEN CRUMP: They were laughing. - --unacceptable-- ELWYN LOPEZ: Well, you hear laughing. - --for-- it was unacceptable. For you to be officers that are supposed to serve and protect the community, to not just brutalize him, but still, after the fact, you're walking around, laughing, smoking cigarettes, like it's-- like he said, it's like normal. Like, we get away with this all the time. So this is just normal behavior for them. - Yeah, and it was. They were so nonchalant about everything. - Mm-hmm. - You have a man literally laying down there in distress, dying, and people are just talking like this is business as usual. Had Tyre not succumbed to his injuries, how many more times would they have done this, and how many times have they done it before? - Before. - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. - I mean-- - And you said you've received calls about that. - Yeah. My office has received two calls now from citizens saying that they were attacked by this Scorpion Unit. One young man said he was just going to get a pizza, and they-- when he was stopped, they came and attacked him at his car, cursing him out, threw him on the ground, put a gun to his head. And he said that he called the police department twice trying to report them. And he never got a call back. And you want to believe that had they responded back to him, that RowVaughn and Rodney's baby might not have been killed. - Mm-hmm. - And I also-- yesterday, I went and got my car washed, and the guy recognized me. And he was saying-- he said, man, that same unit stopped me, and I had a warrant, so I ran. He said, when they caught up with him, they broke his ribs. The same unit. So we-- I'm sure there's a bunch of stories out there, you know? And I'm sure in the next couple of days, a lot of people will come forward. ELWYN LOPEZ: I know there's going to be a review of these specialized units. That's what they're called. Do you think that this unit will actually be disbanded? - I think it has to be. I mean, with this flagrant pattern and practice of brutality, how can you justify letting them continue to operate? I mean, when I saw this video before America saw it, I kept saying that it's going to remind people of Rodney King, the video from 1992. But as the police chief said, in many ways, it's worse because Rodney King survived. Tyre did not survive. And this was an organized unit of brutality. This was a special unit who seemed that they could operate with impunity. I mean, it certainly looks like that from the video. And the things they were saying-- when you watch the video, the supervisor says, well, what did you stop him for? And they come up with this story, talking about, well, he was driving the wrong way in traffic. If he was driving the wrong way in traffic, hell, everybody would have been reporting that. - Well, that's-- the police chief was also saying that that claim of reckless driving, that there was no evidence of that in any of the videos that she saw. - Yeah. And thank God for the video, especially with the audio. And I know you haven't seen it. We're talking about it because it's just important to say why you got to disband the Scorpion Unit. At one point on the radio, you hear somebody say, what did you stop him for or what did he do? And nobody responds. - Mm. - And they also said, one of the officers-- that bothered me-- was that my son tried to take his gun on that video. ELWYN LOPEZ: He said it multiple times. - And my-- right, he said it multiple times. And my son never tried to take his gun. I mean, there's no evidence of that. ELWYN LOPEZ: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. - You know what I'm saying? ELWYN LOPEZ: Yeah, you certainly can't see that in those videos. - Right. Exactly. - And that may be something that they say to try to justify doing what they do. And so we-- everybody needs to analyze every part of this video because it is a telltale sign of an institutionalized police culture who tells them they can get away with it. And we can't let them get away with it here in Memphis. And we can't let them get away with it in any other case, regardless if the officers are Black or white. - Mm-hmm. ELWYN LOPEZ: It's a systemic issue. - And another thing-- - Yes. - --I'd like to say is when I said initially that they messed with the wrong family, they did not know the character of the person who they were brutalizing. They did not know that he was such an outstanding citizen because I guess they always are dealing with criminals or whatever, but they did not know that Tyre had such a beloved following, so to speak. So-- BEN CRUMP: And beautiful soul. - And-- - And a beautiful. - And a beautiful soul. And raised by a beautiful woman who raised a beautiful human being. - Yes. - And they didn't know this. You know what I'm saying? So they didn't know the repercussions that was going to come behind what they did, their actions. - OK. ELWYN LOPEZ: And speaking of that, Mrs. Wells, what will you miss the most about your son? - Everything. [CHUCKLES] His beautiful smile. RODNEY WELLS: Mm-hmm. - His just whole sense of humor, you know? He was just a bright spot. He didn't like-- oh, it both-- if he thought I was mad at him, oh, that would just hurt his poor heart-- ELWYN LOPEZ: Aw. - --even at 29. It-- RODNEY WELLS: "Hello, parents." ELWYN LOPEZ: Well, you never want to disappoint your mama. - Yeah. And he would come in the house and-- "Hello, parents," you know? - And then he used to always want to come over and give her a big hug. - Uh-huh. - Mm-hmm. - And he even put my name on his arm. I mean, what child puts his mother's name-- I mean, unless she was-- ELWYN LOPEZ: Someone who really loves his mother. - Uh-huh. Unless she was deceased or something, you know? And I'm still alive. But he put his-- my name on his arm. And so I'm just going to miss my baby. He was just a-- he was just a sweetheart. ELWYN LOPEZ: Thank you all so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. - Thank you. - Thank you. - Thank you. ELWYN LOPEZ: Thank you. - Thank you. - I know, we-- BEN CRUMP: OK. - Elwyn, our thanks to you and, of course, the Nichols family. Difficult first interview since the release of that horrifying video of their son being beaten by those five police officers. Now, to a new piece of that hour-long footage that shows the arrest and the beating of Tyre Nichols. Now, we want to warn you again, this video is disturbing, and it is difficult to watch. It is an overhead view this time of that arrest. In this video, which does not have audio, you can see one of the five officers on the scene lifting his baton up and striking Tyre multiple times as the other officers there hold Tyre still. You can see another officer punching Tyre at least five times that we can count, from what we can see, before Tyree ultimately falls to the ground. During this confrontation, he's being restrained as well. Those are five police officers, and that is one man who weighed about 140, 150 pounds. You can see them just continuing to punch him as he stands. And finally, he falls to the ground. It's just a beating, and any police officer or law enforcement officer that we've spoken to tonight says that that doesn't even resemble anything that police officers are taught to do. For more on this video release and what comes next, our Stephanie Ramos continues to report for us tonight from Memphis. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Tonight, the city of Memphis releasing the disturbing police body-cam footage in the Tyre Nichols case. TYRE NICHOLS: Hey, I didn't-- - Turn your ass around! STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Police stopping Nichols in his car and pulling him out. TYRE NICHOLS: All right, all right! - Get back! TYRE NICHOLS: All right! Hey, no! You don't do that, OK? Get off! - Get to the ground! Get on the ground! TYRE NICHOLS: OK. - I'm fixing to tase your ass. - Taser! Taser! Taser! TYRE NICHOLS: All right, I'm on the ground. - Turn around! TYRE NICHOLS: I'm on the ground. - Lay down! Lay down! STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): The next video released, Nichols on the ground being pepper sprayed, calling out for his mother. - Mom! - Watch out. - Watch out. - Mom! Mom! What are you doing? - Give me your hands! TYRE NICHOLS: Mom! Mom! STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Surveillance camera footage showing the police kicking and punching Nichols. The brutal beating of the 29-year-old unarmed father after a traffic stop just yards from his home. Nichols dying in the hospital three days later. Outrage brewing over the roles prosecutors say five Memphis police officers played in the death, all now fired. Those five officers all facing felony criminal charges, including second-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping and assault. Today, Tyre Nichols's family and their attorneys coming before cameras, speaking just hours before the footage is set to be released by police. - It doesn't matter if the officer's a Black officer, a Hispanic officer, or a white officer. It is the culture that allows them to think they can do this to Tyre. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Attorney Ben Crump acknowledging the Memphis Police Department's swift action in firing the officers, calling it a blueprint for cases like these going forward. - When we look at how these five Black officers who were caught on camera committing a crime, and when we look at how fast the police chief and the police department terminated them, and we look at how swiftly the district attorney brought charges against them in less than 20 days, then we want to proclaim that this is the blueprint going forward for any time any officers, whether they be Black or white, will be held accountable! No longer can you tell us we got to wait six months to a year, even though we got a video! STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Family attorney Tony Romanucci describing what Tyre Nichols was allegedly facing that night-- some unmarked cars, which police have confirmed, and some plain-clothed officers. - This supposedly emanated from a traffic stop, which turned deadly. Some of them were unmarked squad cars. These were not all officers in uniform, only partially of them were. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): The family's attorneys arguing there were other cases of police misconduct by that unit, but that some claims were ignored, suggesting this tragedy might have been prevented. On "GMA" today, the Memphis Police Chief questioning the accusation in this case of reckless driving that led to the initial stop. - We haven't been able to substantiate in any type of video that there was a reckless driving type of action that prompted this stop. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Today, Tyre Nichols's mother, RowVaughn Wells, emotional, addressing the five officers directly. - I want to say to the five police officers that murdered my son, you also disgraced your own families when you did this. But you know what? I'm going to pray for you and your families because, at the end of the day, this shouldn't have happened. - No. - That's right. - This just shouldn't have happened. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Saying she has not yet had time to grieve the loss of her son herself. - No mother, no mother-- AUDIENCE: No mother. - --no mother should go through what I'm going through right now. No mother. To lose their child to the violent way that I lost my child? I still haven't had time to grieve yet. I'm still dealing with the death of my son. This is-- this was not supposed to happen. My son was supposed to be with me today. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Tyre Nichols's mother saying she could not bring herself to watch the body-camera footage. She's been told it shows her son screaming out for her. - For me to find out that my son was calling my name, and I was only feet away, and did not even hear him, you have no clue how I feel right now. No clue. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Tonight, the attorney for one of the fired officers, Desmond Mills, saying the video will likely be terrible, but that not all of the officers played an equal role here, defending his client. STEPHANIE RAMOS: You say that they weren't equal partners that night. What do you mean by that? BLAKE BALLIN: Everybody played their own role, and I suspect that you're going to see that some officers crossed the line. But it wasn't Desmond Mills Jr. who crossed the line. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Tyre Nichols's stepfather, Rodney Wells, saying the family is satisfied with the charges that include second-degree murder once those charges were explained to the family. Tonight, both parents are asking for prayers for their son and their family and for any protests to be peaceful. - We want peace. We do not want any type of uproar. We do not want any type of disturbance. We want peaceful protests. That's what the family wants. That's what the community wants. - Stephanie Ramos joins us now from Memphis. Stephanie, it's haunting to hear his mom, just in your story and, of course, in the live interview that Elwyn just did, talk about a mother losing a child. And she's right, obviously. No mother should ever lose a child, especially not in this kind of horrific, heinous, brutal way. You've been with us all night, and we've been seeing protests. The Nichols family, along with the mayor all the way up to the President of the United States, asking for peaceful protesting. We've seen protesting now in New York City, in Philadelphia, in Memphis, Tennessee, where you are, of course. Things staying peaceful to this point. What are you seeing there on the ground? - Well, we are continuing to see those protests here in Memphis and, as you mentioned, in other parts of the country as well-- New York City, in Philadelphia, Washington, DC. But for the most part, what we're seeing here is that they're not turning violent, and that is the good news. We are also seeing that there are certain highways that are being blocked, streets as well. And those people that are protesting are chanting, "No justice, no peace." And they're also chanting Tyre Nichols's name. But again, we have not seen reports of any of these protests turning violent. Now, as you mentioned, Tyre Nichols's mother and family earlier today saying that, obviously, this is very devastating for them, but they were urging peace, asking that if there were protests tonight, here in Memphis or anywhere across the country, that they would remain peaceful. And so far, that is what we're seeing. We do want to add we, are just getting this information in, Phil, that two sheriff's deputies involved in the incident have been relieved of their duties. So that just coming in to us here tonight, which this-- who knows. This is probably what we'll continue to see in the days ahead as now that this body camera footage is out, and the investigators continue to investigate, there may be some more answers to unanswered questions, Phil. - Yeah. And, Steph, to go along with what you were just saying, we-- I have the statement in front of me. And the sheriff-- as this investigation continues, you've been talking about how this is-- even though these officers have been fired and are now charged, indictments returned, that this investigation continues. And the sheriff puts this statement out saying, "Having watched the videotape for the first time tonight, I have concerns about two deputies who appeared on the scene following the physical confrontation between police and Tyre Nichols. I have launched an internal investigation into the conduct of these deputies to determine what occurred and if any policies were violated. Both of these deputies have been relieved of duty pending the outcome of this administrative investigation." So even as we're speaking, even 20 days later, this investigation is moving forward. And as it does, Stephanie, the-- Tyre's family wants a few things to happen. Of course, they want justice for their son, and justice is moving forward when it comes to the five officers. But they want to see a law, and they want to see this Scorpion Unit, this specialized unit that these five officers are from, be disbanded. Talk to me a little bit about that. - Exactly, Phil. And as you heard in that interview with Elwyn there, the family says they want, and the attorney says they want, that Scorpion Crime Unit disbanded. They say there have been an amount of allegations-- a certain amount of allegations made against that crime unit of excessive force and just not protecting the city, which is what it was created to do. So that is one part-- one piece of it. That's what they're looking forward to. And also, they plan to-- the attorney for the family has mentioned that they plan to sue the city, file a civil lawsuit. But that law that you mentioned, the family wants to create that law here in the state of Tennessee, named after Tyre. And it will emphasize the importance of officers having a duty to intervene when they see crimes being committed, even if the crimes are being committed by fellow officers, so relating very much to this situation, of course. Several officers there on the scene. And this is similar to what our-- the attorney for one of the former officers mentioned earlier, saying that his client, Desmond Mills, was on the scene, but he wasn't first on the scene. He was responding to the scene and didn't really play a role, saying there were no equal parts-- equal parts weren't played here by those police officers. So now that that body camera footage has been released, that'll likely change the situation or his perspective. I do want to know if the attorney had not seen the video. But that law, the family says, will prevent situations like this from happening again, where there are several officers on a scene, and an officer will be supported by this law if he sees a crime committed by a fellow officer, Phil. - Yeah, that's the one thing we don't see on this video, or I haven't seen-- and it's not described that it is there in any way, shape, or form-- is one of these police officers saying, stop this, this isn't right, this is too much, you're going to hurt him, you're going to kill him. Even the officer who you're talking about, his attorney-- and we do need to point out, you are correct, that he had not seen the video. But at no point do we see anybody stepping in to stop the assault, a deadly assault that was happening. - Right. And you see in that video the-- just the amount of times that-- not that-- you see Tyre Nichols tased, pepper sprayed. And then in one moment, you see him stumble a bit. You can clearly tell that he's disoriented and then takes another blow to the head. But as you mentioned, there was-- it doesn't seem as though anybody there on the scene said stop or tried to intervene in any way. Of course, details will be revealed in the next few days, hopefully. And we'll learn more about those individuals that were there on the scene. But as of right now, it's a very disturbing video. Yeah, disturbing, indeed. All right, Stephanie Ramos, thanks so much, in Memphis tonight. Joining us now for more is the President of the NAACP Memphis Chapter, Van Turner Jr. Van, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us tonight. It's a difficult night for everyone there in Memphis and across the country. You, like so many others, have called for peace in tonight's protests. What was your reaction now that you have seen what is this incredibly hard-to-watch, brutal video? - Yeah. My heart goes out to the family. To see Tyree Nicole stood up and punched like a punching bag, to see him kicked, to see him pepper sprayed-- and there is no constitutional reason for him to have endured that type of treatment-- it's just gut wrenching. Many have stated that this is comparable to Rodney King, and you can see why. In this instance, Tyre was fighting for his life. He left from the first scene because he knew and he sensed that something was wrong. They tried to tase him, they pepper sprayed him, and he ran. They caught up to him again, and they simply punished him, gangland style, for simply trying to live. And he had the right to live. He had the right to try to survive that evening. And unfortunately, he did not survive. So we are all disappointed. We are just frustrated here in Memphis. We know that this is being felt throughout the nation. And so we're asking for a peaceful protest, but we have to protest, and we have to demonstrate, because this is not normal. And it should not be accepted as normal. We shouldn't normalize this type of brutality. And so we have to do something going forward, after the protest. We have to turn the protest into better policy, and I'm hopeful that that's what happens after tonight. - We've spoken to law enforcement officers across the country who share in your heartbreak and everyone's disgust as they watch this video. And the police officers we've talked to, law enforcement officers, say nowhere in that video is there any police work. This was just an assault, five on one, on a man who didn't weigh more than 150 pounds. You talk about police reform. After George Floyd's horrific death, there was a lot of talk about police reform. And we spoke this evening about how many police departments across the country have actually increased their spending and some retraining. But it doesn't seem like, if we're back at this point, and, as you point out, that this is-- seems as brutal, if not worse than, the Rodney King video 31 years ago-- 31 years ago, by the way. And every assault that we have seen on body camera in between-- what needs to happen? I mean, what needs to happen? Is it at the city level? Is it at the state level, the federal level? How do we as a nation stop this from happening? - It's all three levels. I mean, we still have the George Floyd Act, which died on the Senate. We still have state laws which are not properly implemented and which could be stronger. And we most certainly have local laws which need to be improved. So we see at these three branches of government that this is something that has to be addressed, and we have to take it seriously. I'm-- quite frankly, I'm tired of legislators coming out and giving their prayers and concerns for the family and for what's going on, yet they go back to their seats of power and do nothing. It's time out for that. The George Floyd Act needs to be passed. We need better legislation statewide, and it needs to be implemented. We call on the governor and the Tennessee General Assembly to do so. And don't share your thoughts and your prayers without action. We want action, and we want it legislatively. We want it in policy, and we demand that now. And that's justice for Tyre. VAN TURNER JR: I want to talk briefly about trust. Earlier on today, we heard the Nichols' attorney, Ben Crump, say, listen, if you are asking members of the community you police to step forward and talk to you about crimes that happen in the community, help the police with crimes that happen in the community, then we have the right to ask you to stop crimes as well. Your police officers need to be able to step forward in an event like this and say, this needs to stop. He says, until that happens, it's going to be hard to trust. So I ask you, do you agree with Attorney Crump tonight? And how then does this nation move forward with communities trying desperately to trust the police officers who are supposed to be keeping them safe? - Attorney Crump is absolutely right. Leadership is something that others will mimic, others will follow, and it has to be something that we see from the top down. We can't ask untrained citizens who don't know policy and don't know procedure to comply and abide and do the right thing when we have officers who have not done the right thing. So this is a give-and-take approach. You need to show, you need to demonstrate, we need to see that in your own behavior and conduct before you can ask of the same from the community. So I absolutely agree with Attorney Crump. And I think that this is an example where the trust has been broken with these five officers, so there is some repair, there's some healing that needs to take place. But then again, that's-- the point is quite poignantly made. I don't ask of the community what you're unwilling to do yourself. So we call upon this to be one of the demands that we ask for in light of what has occurred and as we move forward in our demand for justice. - And, Van, you talk about moving forward. What can you do, what will you do, what do you plan to do to help the community begin what will likely be a very long process of healing and moving forward? - Well, we can review the Red Scorpion Squad. But let me be clear here, we have to address the underlying reason why the Red Scorpion Squad was put forth in the first place, and that was to address the uptick in crime. So it comes back to crime, and crime is symptomatic of poverty. We are one of the poorest cities in America. And so what we have to do is address poverty. We have to address lack of education. We have to address lack of job opportunities, which lead to crime. And because of that crime, we have the Red Scorpion Squad. So that's our work. That's what we have to do. We can't point the finger solely at the Red Scorpion Squad and solely at crime being out of hand. We have a responsibility to address the underlying issues that are there. And if we don't address the root causes of a crime, we can never really address everything else that's taken place. So we start there as a community. We start there to address the root cause of why we're here this evening. And I think that's the appropriate starting spot to address this issue going forward. - Van Turner Jr., NAACP, in Memphis, we do appreciate you coming on and the sentiment. Thank you so much. VAN TURNER JR: I thank-- - All right, joining us now for more is Memphis City Councilman Dr. Jeff Warren. Dr. Warren, thanks so much for being with us. You just heard Van Turner of the NAACP there in Memphis talk about the road to healing in your community. I want to talk to you about that as well. But first, I'd like to get your initial reaction to the video that we have been seeing tonight released from the Memphis Police Department. - It's as bad as we thought it was going to be. Everyone looking at that video just curls up in angst and pain. I heard about this event before any arrests were occurred because friends of Tyre had texted me and told me, this doesn't smell right. Something happened wrong here. You need to make sure that the police investigated it. And I told them I knew that they would. And they did. One of the things that Van said that I think is really important is that we've got to help with poverty if we're going to fix this. But you realize every murder costs our community $10 million? Certain murders cost even more. We had our Chamber of Commerce President murdered, shot in the head, walking down the street in the middle of Memphis-- random. This murder of Tyre will definitely cost our community more than $10 million. That's money that we need for education and for housing and for food and for all the other things that need to go on. So these things are very complicated, and they are interrelated. One of the problems I think that we have as a nation is that we do not value young Black men enough to where this type of thing happens over and over again to young Black men throughout our country. And what we have to do systematically as a nation is we have to figure out why this is, and we have to address it. And the way you do that is you go back to the effects of slavery on our entire nation and realize that we as a nation have not come to grips with this yet. PHIL LIPOF: Councilman, clarify something for me, if you will. You're talking about how much these murders cost the city. What are you talking about? In civil suits? I'm not exactly sure. - Well, if-- there's a professor at Harvard, Thomas Abt, who wrote a book called Bleeding Out. And in that book, he went and calculated the cost of every individual murder. And it's the cost of the person who is killed, who never made any money and contributed to society; the cost of trying to arrest, detain, try, and imprison the person who now was the murderer and will never contribute to society. It's the cost of what happens to your property values when you're living in a neighborhood where people drive by and shoot through your walls. No one's buying your house. No one's putting a business in there. There are no economic opportunities. It's a cost of education for the kids who are there, who can't study because they're afraid they're going to be shot playing in the front yard or through the wall. That's the cost. And when you add those up, the low cost is $10 million. And in Dr. Abt's book, the highest cost was $18 million per life. PHIL LIPOF: All right. - And that's why it's so important. And this is where it's so complicated with the Scorpion Unit in that, two years ago, we had 245 murders-- 247 murders in Memphis-- or 347 murders in Memphis, actually. And this year, after the initiation of that unit, it's down to about 300. We've dropped it by about 12%. But you have the blowback that you just had by what this unit just did to Tyre. So how you make this investment-- I mean, we just saved 47 lives that weren't murdered by initiating this unit. So the unit has flaws, and the process has flaws, but to give up on it and not to try to save these other young people, who are out shooting each other with automatic weapons, doesn't seem to me like it's where we need to go. We need to, like, fix the problem that we have with this unit as opposed to get rid of it. - Yeah. Well, that, I'm sure, will be something that the council and the mayor and the police chief all look into as we move forward. I-- and I need a clarification on that because you're talking about money. And, obviously, the largest cost there is the loss of human life and, I would argue, the loss of trust now between the community and the police. Of course, there's a monetary cost-- - I agree, 100%. - Yeah, of course, there's a monetary cost as well. I just-- we heard from the Nichols family earlier on tonight. They want everyone on both scenes to be charged. Do you agree that everybody who was there, even folks who didn't step in, should be charged? - I think that the wheels of justice are moving correctly in this situation. And forgive me when I'm telling you this $10 million figure because it's not about the money, but what it's telling you is how each of these murders damages our community's ability to fight poverty and to help the human condition, not about the money. And just looking at Tyre and his family, look at what they're saying-- we want non-violent protests; we want this type of murder of young Black men to end. And we have to look at that as a society, of what do we have to do to stop that? - So you talk about the Scorpion Unit. And, obviously, your position is that it is helping in some way and should continue moving forward with changes. But let's talk about what kind of changes you think need to happen either to that specialized unit, but moreover to the Memphis Police Department. Obviously, something is awry if this is going to happen. These are five officers. This wasn't one rogue officer. This was five officers acting in concert. So what needs to happen at the Memphis Police Department now? - Well, I think we're going to see a top-down, independent evaluation of this unit to see what we need to do, if anything, to fix it. And I understand the pleas for the family to get rid of this unit because they just killed their son. But if we're able to use this unit to save 40 or 50 lives every year that aren't murdered, then I think they'd understand how it's important. The issue is, how do we fix it? And I think the problem is-- I think chief alluded to it today-- we've got to have more supervisors involved in link here. And I'm not a police expert. I'm going to listen to what they tell me that we need to be doing. But I know we need to investigate this. We need to change it. And in the Memphis Police Department, we're down 500 officers from our complement. We need 2,500 officers to be able to patrol the city, and we've been working on 1,800, 1,900, 2,000 officers. So we're down by 20%. So that means everyone's working overtime. Everyone's tired. Everyone's doing the best they can do. And as I said, the-- in Memphis, two years ago, we had 345 murders that year. New York had about 480. They have a population of 8.6 million. We have a population of 650,000. So you can see why we can't just afford to throw our police department out. We need them to do their job well. And when they mess up like this-- and this is horrible and heart wrenching. But when they do this, we have to go and take the people and hold them accountable that did this wrong, and we have to figure out how it doesn't happen again. JEFF WARREN: Yeah, and you talk about-- - That's what we're going to need some outside help for. - Right. And you talk about top-down-- I mean, everything from background checks on who you're bringing in to the police department to de-escalation to training. Some of these officers were as young as in their mid-20s in this specialized unit. A lot has to happen here. But in the end, humanity has to be involved. There may be a lack of police officers in Memphis, but that night, there were five on one. - Oh, there was one. - They were five on one that night, and a man's dead, so-- - Oh, it was a beating. It was just a beat-down. And that's not what makes community policing. Our council has been pushing for community policing, and we've done everything we can do possibly to try to get more police officers to take some of the load off, the people who are there, doing their job every day, protecting us. So we're going to work on this, but this isn't just a Memphis problem. This problem is in every city across the country. And we have to figure out what we do to value young Black men's lives to the point where this wouldn't happen to them again. PHIL LIPOF: Yeah, it's a problem people have been asking for generations. Councilman Warren, thanks for your time tonight. I do appreciate it. - Thank you. Thanks for having me. - Yep. Our coverage of the Tyre Nichols case continues just after the break. - Welcome back. Our coverage of the Tyre Nichols case continues. Tonight, arrest footage has been released, and we are seeing a new portion now. We're going to show it to you. You will see Nichols is pulled out of his car, wrestled to the ground. He tells the officers, I didn't do anything. And that's-- he's just trying to get home, is what he tells the officers. And we want to warn you, as we have throughout the evening, what you're about to see is, no doubt, disturbing and extremely difficult to watch. - Come on! Get on the ground! - I am! - One! Now! I'll tase you! - All right! OK! - I'm gonna break your [MUTED]. TYRE NICHOLS: OK, dude, damn! - Turn the [MUTED] around. TYRE NICHOLS: I didn't-- - Put your hands behind your back! TYRE NICHOLS: OK. Stop. All right. - I'ma knock your ass the [MUTED] out. TYRE NICHOLS: Hey, you guys are really doing a lot right now. - Bruh, lay down! Like-- TYRE NICHOLS: I'm just trying to go home! - Lay down! - Man, if you don't lay down! TYRE NICHOLS: Bro, I am on the ground! - Put your hands behind your back! - On your stomach! TYRE NICHOLS: I am! Please! - I got him. OK. - Oh. - What the [MUTED], man? TYRE NICHOLS: Stop! I'm not doing anything! - [SCREAM] Taser! Taser! Taser! - I'll tell you, the police chief said she was confused when she watched this video. And it is confusing because the law enforcement officers we have spoken to say they just don't understand what they were doing, especially at that point, saying, lie down, and he's saying, I'm down. We know those five officers in that video were fired and charged in connection with Tyre's death. There are murder charges, second-degree murder charges. There's a kidnapping charge in there. ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire joins me here in studio. Brian, it's good to see you. First question, obviously, and you just watched that portion with me, what was going through your mind when you watched that video? - So unfortunately, when I watch these videos, I think in terms of two minds, as a lawyer and as a Black man in America. As a lawyer, I'm looking for the justification for this. I'm looking to see-- the law says that you're allowed to use the appropriate amount of force to effectuate an arrest. How are we defining this as appropriate? How do five men who have been employed with this police department from 2017 to 2020 think that this was appropriate for a traffic stop that we are learning might not have even been an appropriate traffic stop. PHIL LIPOF: Right. No evidence, really, the police chief says, of reason to pull him over in the first place. - Yeah, we call that a pretextual stop. That's a whole other conversation. But as a Black man-- and, hell, as you know, in the last six months, as a father-- I'm thinking to myself, what do I tell my younger brother? What do I tell my son when he has the words to ask, but what do I do, dad, what do I do, brother, when I'm supposed to be driving home to see my mother, driving home to see you? How do I stay safe? And it appears there's no answer because this should have never happened. It should have never escalated to the point where they even put hands on him, let alone beat him to death. So that was my thoughts when I first saw this. - And have you thought about what you'll tell your son? - No, I'm still working on that. But before I got here, I actually texted my brother and my sister, and I said, the news isn't for you this weekend. If you want to talk about Tyre Nichols, you call me, then we talk about it, and then we discuss whether or not you see this. PHIL LIPOF: Yeah, rather than ingesting it-- - Yeah. PHIL LIPOF: --this way, through television. - And they're in their early 20s. They're adults. They're old enough to do what they want. But they both messaged me back and said, thank you, we won't, because it's becoming repetitious. PHIL LIPOF: Mm. - Yeah, we had George Floyd. We thought that we had resolved this. Even here in Memphis, they're saying that they took new precautions to try to avoid this, but this is potentially worse. I mean, we're comparing it to Rodney King, and it's appropriately compared to it. This is a gang assault. PHIL LIPOF: Yeah. BRIAN BUCKMIRE: This wasn't an arrest. This wasn't anything that they're supposed to be doing. And so these people aren't supposed to have badges. There's nothing to say to people about what they should or shouldn't do to avoid this. - Yeah, no logic at all involved in what happened there. All right, so put on your lawyer hat for a moment, and talk to me about the civil liability for this city. We just heard the councilman talk about how much an individual murder costs. And I understood what he was saying. It sounded odd at the time because, obviously, the cost of a human life, there's no price on that, especially, as you heard, his mother saying no mother should ever lose a child. But his point was there is a cost to it, and it sets everybody back, not just the family that has lost a loved one, but the education in that specific city, and so many other things. Civilly, we heard Stephanie Ramos tell us that the Nichols family is planning to sue. What's the process there, and what kind of suit are we talking about? - So the title's called a 1983 Claim. It's where you're arguing that the government, whether it be city, state, federal, that one of their employees acting under the color of law violated someone's constitutional rights. And we're hearing already the buzzwords that tell us that this is coming. When you look at these misconduct charges, when you look at the kidnapping charges, we haven't seen kidnapping charges in other police brutality cases. That's because what the police department and the prosecution is saying is that you had no right to stop this person. There was no-- PHIL LIPOF: They held him there against his will. - Yeah. I mean, kidnapping is taking a person-- and the aggravated kidnapping that they're describing-- and then subjecting them to a level of pain and force that is illegal. Cops don't usually get charged with that. That along with the misconduct, that tells me that we're already seeing hints of a civil rights claim. When the chief of the police come out and says, this isn't how we train them, this isn't how it's supposed to be done; when I hear Ben Crump say, other people are talking about their interactions with this Scorpion group, this-- they look like a gang to me, but they're an organized group of officers who are supposed to go after the worst of the worst. - Right. - Those all-- when you connect the dots, that sounds like a pattern and practice argument; that this isn't an offshoot; that this might be ingrained in the culture of either this organization or the police department. - Is there potential for a civil suit to have an impact in terms of change? - Again, you're asking for two different hats, the man and the lawyer. PHIL LIPOF: Yeah, you can be both. - I mean, the lawyer would say yes. I'm a public defender. By definition, I put myself in the system, understanding that there is flaws within it, hoping that I can change it. This situation makes me feel naive and stupid because we thought we had fixed this, right? We thought that George Floyd and the implementation of different processes would have gotten rid of this. Well, I must have been naive or stupid because, obviously, I'm here again having the same conversation, still asking what are we supposed to do to stay safe? - Yeah. We spoke to Lora King tonight, Rodney King's daughter, and she said the same thing. She said, I cannot believe people are-- they're talking about this being like my father's assault, worse than that. How are we here 31 years later? Brian, thanks so much for taking the time to come in. - My pleasure. PHIL LIPOF: And congratulations on being a new dad. - Thank you. - All right. Let's bring in now ABC News contributor and Sirius XM radio host Mike Muse. Mike, I'm glad you're joining us again. The conversation got cut a little bit short earlier on, and I believe you were at the point when you were talking about why it is you say-- and you've written extensively about this-- why Black men specifically run from police. - Yeah. It's an act of negotiation in that moment, right? Like, it's-- you're even heating Tyre in this moment, at the moment of the first initial stop. He's asking, what did I do? And the moment he's asking, what did I do, you immediately hear such derogatory language that comes from these officers. You hear this rage that ensues from these officers, and while at the same time, you see this state of confusion that Tyre has as they throw him down to the ground. They send mixed messages of signals to get on the ground. He's like, I am on the ground. Lay down. I am lying down. Like, what position do you want me to lie down in? In that moment we begin to resist, it's almost as if we have given up on the negotiation. It's almost as if we have given up because they know that this is not landing on sound mind or sound reasoning in an adrenaline-fueled moment. And so the moment we get up, we run. We run because we know that we're about to enter a system that isn't fair, that isn't just for us. We're about to enter a system where we possibly can't afford the bail, so we're going to be in there for an indeterminate amount of time. We're going to be in there, where Black men are usually presumed guilty before they are seen as innocent until proven guilty. We're always knowing that we may have to face plea deals that-- when we know we're innocent, but we don't have the ability to fight or the economics of defense to fight. Well, we're looking at 25 years till we're offered the five-year deal, and so we often take it. And we see how the movie ends for us. We see how the movie ends normally-- in murder and in death. We never see it end just. And so this is the reason why we run. It's a reflex. It's an instinct. It's a negotiation tactic. And that is what you saw happening with Tyre in that moment of him running. It's running from all of what we have seen. Every Black man has this PTSD when it comes to being around law enforcement. Your rationale goes out the window because they won't be rational to you. And this isn't a white officer versus a Black officer. This is a law enforcement issue as a whole. - You write, "If there are no consequences in taking a Black man's life, there will never be a hesitation in pulling the trigger." What consequences are you talking about? Because, obviously, losing your job and being charged with murder doesn't seem to be enough. - It doesn't. And we just only have seen recently within the last year, really, convictions being done to-- for crimes against a Black man at the hands of police. And so we've seen not even just decades, but a century, of even how the police were formed in terms of how they have handled Black men. It's only due to technology now and cell phones and viral videos and Twitter and social media that we see these videos go viral so that you can see some of the accountability that should be had. And should is a key word because even when you do see sometimes the videos of the murder at hand, you still don't see the conviction. And so as a result of never seeing these convictions whatsoever, the police feel like they have no checks and balances, right? And so when they enter an engagement where they pull the-- where they pull out their gun, there is no hesitation for the trigger because they haven't seen themselves being taken away in prison and mug shots and fingerprints and on a stand in front of a courtroom, in front of a judge, in front of attorneys, in front of being judged by their peers. They haven't seen that. They haven't seen, in this instance, where they can just yank a Black man out from his car, where there would be no repercussions because there are no repercussions. And so until police officers start seeing themselves being held accountable by way of not just losing their job, but serving jail time for the murder of the crimes that they're committing against Black men, only then will they begin to hesitate on pulling that trigger. Only then will they hesitate on yanking somebody out, using excessive force, and then five individuals brutally beating and jumping one person at a time that is half their weight. - Yeah. There are a few things that make this different than some of the attacks we've seen, some of the police-involved violent attacks. One, this was five on one, as you point out, which is just ridiculous in any situation, especially when the five have badges and guns and authority. But also, these five officers are Black. And you're talking about race in a way that-- Attorney Crump today said, it really doesn't matter if the officer is Black, white, Hispanic. They're wearing a blue uniform, and they're in this blue organization. Did it shock you at all or disturb you even further that the five officers beating a man in this case were five Black officers? - There's two parts to that. One, I always-- in my fight and in my writings and my advocacy and me creating an organization called Vote Quadrant to End Police Brutality, which is systematic voting system, I've always never seen it from the color of race and skin color. For me, it's all about being from a position of power. No matter when these individuals put on that uniform or they put that shield on, it automatically hides any insecurities that they may have within their own selves. It hides and masks any issue that they're dealing with. They feel like they are a superhero. When they feel like they're a superhero, they have unlimited power. It's the power they yearn for, and it's the power that we give them as a society, as a community, as taxpayers, that are being unchecked. And so when they do that, they feel like they have carte blanche to say what they want to say, do what they want to say, and not-- do what they want to do, and not value people as human, nor see them as whole. And particularly when it comes to Black men, there's something about the way society views Black men as not being whole, right, as not being a family man, as not being someone who can love, as not being someone who can be vulnerable. So when they don't see us as that, then they treat us as that. And you can hear it in the visceral words and response that they have. The fact that they were Black doesn't shock me because, for me, it's always been about the overall enforcement agency. What hurt me, honestly, was to hear their use of word "bro," "brother," "my man." It was almost as if they were two-- experiencing two different ways. They were wearing this cape of police and law enforcement, but at the same time using Black male identity and references and calls that we use. That was hurtful. It was weaponizing brotherhood. It was weaponizing that term of endearment. It was weaponizing that term when we say "bruh" and "brotherly." That is what hurt me. I didn't expect to hear that. And then when you see one of the police officers-- and he's already down on the ground-- Come from around the corner out of nowhere, runs up, and kicks him-- not once, not twice, but repeatedly-- that hurt me the most, looking at that part. PHIL LIPOF: Yeah, and the power you're talking about comes with responsibility, the responsibility to wield that power in a humane way. And we didn't see anything even close to that, obviously. And then the charges, but I take your point, and it's a good one. Mike Muse, thanks so much. I do appreciate you continuing the conversation with us. - Thank you so much. It's unfortunate we have to be here tonight. PHIL LIPOF: It absolutely is. You're correct. You're watching ABC News Live. I'm Phil Lipof in tonight for Linsey Davis. We are continuing to come on the air as the nation grapples with the shocking and newly released video of yet another Black man killed at the hands of police. Largely peaceful protests have kicked off across the country tonight calling for change, as they have again and again and again. That protest in Memphis, Tennessee, that we have been watching. Others in Philadelphia and New York City. Our team has been vetting newly released arrest video all night long, and we're going to bring parts of it to you throughout the night. The first is of Nichols being pulled out of the car by officers. And we had to bleep a good portion of this, but it is the moment he gets pulled out of the car. For what reason, we are not sure. We want to warn you, this is disturbing, and it is painful to watch. - Hey! - Give me your hand! - Give me your hand! - You want to get sprayed again? - Hey! - Hey, mane! - Hey! - Get him, bruh! - Mom! - Watch out! - Watch out! - Mom! - Give me your hands! TYRE NICHOLS: Mom! Mom! - Hey! Give me your hands. Give me-- - OK. All right, all right. - Give me your fucking hands. Give me your hands. TYRE NICHOLS: All right, fine. All right? OK. All right. - ABC's Elwyn Lopez is in Memphis tonight and, just a short time ago, sat down with the family of Tyre Nichols and their attorney, Ben Crump. Here's the interview. - Thank you all so much for joining us, especially during this difficult time. This video has now been released to the public. This is the first time that many are taking a look at it. What do you want people to take away from this? - I just wanted them to see why they charged these police officers with murder. This video illustrates exactly what happened on those streets that night. This also justifies our son showing that he was no threat to them. For a individual to weigh 150 pounds and to be brutalized by five officers is unheard of. And we needed the public to see it so that they could make their own judgment. ELWYN LOPEZ: Mrs. Wells, you described this as God's assignment. Can you tell me more about that? - Well, [CLEARS THROAT] I just feel like my son was sent here on an assignment. His assignment was fulfilled, and God took him home. Now, that's my belief, that's what I hold on to, and that's what keeps me going, because I'm not going to stop until I get justice for my son. ELWYN LOPEZ: And you were telling me that he was watching the sunset, taking pictures-- - Yes. - --when he was on his way home and stopped by these officers. - Yes. He was on his way home. He goes to Shelby Farms every weekend to watch the sunset. That's his passion. He would go to skateboard or-- you know. But he was on his way home. ELWYN LOPEZ: And you told me that he was really close to his home when he was calling your name. I know you haven't taken a look at the video, but you told me that you felt something happening. - Yes. I felt a lot of pain and discomfort in my stomach. And at the time, I didn't realize what it was. But once I found out, then I just said, that was my son's pain that I was feeling. ELWYN LOPEZ: Calling out for you? - Yes. ELWYN LOPEZ: During his last moments? - Yes. - You described to me, also, the moment that you saw him in the hospital, that you finally got a look at what they had done to your son. - Yes. ELWYN LOPEZ: Tell me about that. - Well, as I told you earlier, I was told that he was only pepper sprayed and tased. However, when I got to the hospital, my son was beaten up. He had bruises all over his body. His head was the size, almost, of a watermelon. His neck was busted because of the swelling. His neck was broken. My whole son's body was just black and blue. They had him on all these breathing machines. He'd already went into cardiac arrest, and his kidneys were failing. And so it just shocked me because I was told something else. ELWYN LOPEZ: And then you arrived at the hospital and saw something totally different? - Totally different. And I knew then my son was already deceased. He was just-- they were just-- the doctors had him on the breathing machine. ELWYN LOPEZ: But he wasn't breathing on his own? RODNEY WELLS: No. - No. - In the video, you see other officers outside of the five officers who were charged. Now, for the first time, we saw the first incident, also the second altercation. What do you want people to know about the full extent of the video? And what would you like to see happen to others who were there? - I feel that everyone there should be charged from both scenes, the first one and the second. Everyone. That's the paramedics. That's the fire department paramedics that came out, that stood around and didn't do anything. They're just as guilty. So everyone that was active in the whole scene, the whole video, should be charged. ELWYN LOPEZ: And, Mr. Crump, you were talking about the same thing, that some of the people there were not charged, and you would like to see charges brought against those officers and the paramedics. - Well, we certainly have questions now that we see this video, and we can study it a little more. In the first five minutes of the release of the video, people started commenting on social media that there was a white police officer there that was engaging with Tyre, but we didn't hear anything about him. And so that raises a lot of questions. Why wasn't he charged with anything? And, really, the whole Scorpion Unit, this unit should be disbanded. Attorney Romanucci and Mr. Ali and the rest of our legal team, we were talking. And when you look at how this unit was operating with such brutality, such excessive force, how can you feel safe if you're a citizen in Memphis, with people having that mentality that they can just go out here and trample on the Constitutional rights of citizens in certain communities? - Well, we were talking as well about the officers' behavior after this incident and some of the things that we saw on camera. Can you describe that for me? - Oh. It was-- BEN CRUMP: They were laughing. - --unacceptable-- ELWYN LOPEZ: Well, you hear laughing. - --for-- it was unacceptable. For you to be officers that are supposed to serve and protect the community, to not just brutalize him, but still, after the fact, you're walking around laughing, smoking cigarettes, like it's-- like he said, it's like normal. Like, we get away with this all the time. So this is just normal behavior for them. - Yeah, and it was. They were so nonchalant about everything. - Mm-hmm. - You have a man literally laying down there in distress, dying, and people are just talking like this is business as usual. Had Tyre not succumbed to his injuries, how many more times would they have done this? And how many times have they done it before? - Before. - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. - I mean-- - And you said you've received calls about that. - Yeah. My office has received two calls now from citizens saying that they were attacked by this Scorpion Unit. One young man said he was just going to get a pizza. And they-- when he was stopped, they came and attacked him at his car, cursing him out, threw him on the ground, put a gun to his head. And he said that he called the police department twice trying to report them, and he never got a call back. And you want to believe that had they responded back to him that RowVaughn and Rodney's baby might not have been killed. - Mm-hmm. - And I also-- yesterday, I went and got my car washed, and the guy recognized me. And he was saying-- he said, man, that same unit stopped me. And I had a warrant, so I ran. He said, when they caught up with him, they broke his ribs. The same unit. So we-- I'm sure there's a bunch of stories out there. And I'm sure in the next couple of days, a lot of people will come forward. ELWYN LOPEZ: I know there's going to be a review of these specialized units. That's what they're called. Do you think that this unit will actually be disbanded? - I think it has to be. I mean, with this flagrant pattern and practice of brutality, how can you justify letting them continue to operate? I mean, when I saw this video before America saw it, I kept saying that it's going to remind people of Rodney King, the video from 1992. But as the police chief said, in many ways, it's worse because Rodney King survived. Tyre did not survive. And this was an organized unit of brutality. This was a special unit who seemed that they could operate with impunity. I mean, it certainly looks like that from the video. And the things they were saying-- when you watch the video, the supervisor says, well, what did you stop him for? And they come up with this story, talking about, well, he was driving the wrong way in traffic. If he was driving the wrong way in traffic, hell, everybody would have been reporting that. - Well, that's-- the police chief was also saying that that claim of reckless driving, that there was no evidence of that in any of the videos that she saw. - Yeah. And thank God for the video, especially with the audio. And I know you hadn't seen it. We're talking about it because it's just important to say why you got to disband the Scorpion Unit. At one point on the radio, you hear somebody say, what did you stop him for or what did he do? And nobody responds. - Mm. - And they also said-- one of the officers, that bothered me-- was that my son tried to take his gun on that video. ELWYN LOPEZ: He said it multiple times. - And my-- right, he said it multiple times. And my son never tried to take his gun. I mean, there's no evidence of that. ELWYN LOPEZ: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. - You know what I'm saying? ELWYN LOPEZ: Yeah, you certainly can't see that in those videos. - Right. Exactly. - And that may be something that they say to try to justify doing what they do. And so we-- everybody needs to analyze every part of this video because it is a telltale sign of an institutionalized police culture who tells them they can get away with it. And we can't let them get away with it here in Memphis. And we can't let them get away with it in any other case, regardless if the officers are Black or white. ELWYN LOPEZ: It's a systemic issue. - And another thing I like to say is when I said initially that they messed with the wrong family, they did not know the character of the person who they were brutalizing. They did not know that he was such an outstanding citizen because I guess they always are dealing with criminals or whatever. But they did not know that Tyre had such a beloved following, so to speak. So-- BEN CRUMP: And beautiful soul. - And a beautiful soul. - And a beautiful soul, and raised by a beautiful woman who raised a beautiful human being. - Yes. - And they didn't know this. You know what I'm saying? So they didn't know the repercussions that was going to come behind what they did, their actions. ELWYN LOPEZ: Mm-hmm. - OK. ELWYN LOPEZ: And speaking of that, Mrs. Wells, what will you miss the most about your son? - Everything. [CHUCKLES] His beautiful smile. RODNEY WELLS: Mm-hmm - His just whole sense of humor, you know? He was just a bright spot. He didn't like-- oh, if I-- if he thought I was mad at him, oh, that would just hurt his poor heart-- ELWYN LOPEZ: Aw. - --even at 29. It-- RODNEY WELLS: "Hello, parents." - Yeah. ELWYN LOPEZ: Well, you never want to disappoint your mama. - Yeah. And he would come in the house and-- "hello, parents," you know? - And then he used to always want to come over and give her a big hug. - Uh-huh. - Mm-hmm. - And he even put my name on his arm. I mean, what child puts his mother's name-- I mean, unless she was-- ELWYN LOPEZ: Someone who really loves his mother. - Uh-huh. Unless she was deceased or something, you know? And I'm still alive. But he put his-- my name on his arm. And so I'm just going to miss my baby. He was just a-- he was just a sweetheart. ELWYN LOPEZ: Thank you all so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. - Thank you. - Thank you. ELWYN LOPEZ: Thank you. - Thank you. - Elwyn, thank you. And that's a poignant reminder that at the heart of every single one of these cases is a family that lost a loved one. So we thank the Nichols for that interview, which was their first since seeing the video or since the video was released. For more on this video release and what comes next, our Stephanie Ramos reports in tonight from Memphis. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Tonight, the city of Memphis releasing the disturbing police body-cam footage in the Tyre Nichols case. TYRE NICHOLS: I didn't do anything! Hey! I didn't-- - Turn your ass around! STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Police stopping Nichols in his car and pulling him out. TYRE NICHOLS: All right, all right. - I'm gonna beat your ass! TYRE NICHOLS: Hey, no! You don't do that, OK? - Get on the [MUTED] ground! Get on the ground! TYRE NICHOLS: OK. - I'm fixing to tase your ass! - Taser! Taser! Taser! TYRE NICHOLS: All right, I'm on the ground. - Lay down! - On the ground. - Lay down! STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): The next video released, Nichols on the ground being pepper sprayed, calling out for his mother. - Mom! - Watch out! - Watch out! - Mom! [PAINED SCREAM] - Get on your knees! TYRE NICHOLS: Mom! Mom! - Hey. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Surveillance camera footage showing the police kicking and punching Nichols. The brutal beating of the 29-year-old unarmed father after a traffic stop just yards from his home. Nichols dying in the hospital three days later. Outrage brewing over the roles prosecutors say five Memphis police officers played in the death, all now fired. Those five officers all facing felony criminal charges, including second-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping and assault. Today, Tyre Nichols's family and their attorneys coming before cameras, speaking just hours before the footage is set to be released by police. - It doesn't matter if the officer's a Black officer, a Hispanic officer, or a white officer. It is the culture that allows them to think they can do this to Tyre. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Attorney Ben Crump acknowledging the Memphis Police Department's swift action in firing the officers, calling it a blueprint for cases like these going forward. - When we look at how these five Black officers who were caught on camera committing a crime, and when we look at how fast the police chief and the police department terminated them. and we look at how swiftly the district attorney brought charges against them in less than 20 days, then we want to proclaim that this is the blueprint going forward for any time any officers, whether they be Black or white, will be held accountable! No longer can you tell us we got to wait six months to a year, even though we got a video! STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Family attorney Tony Romanucci describing what Tyre Nichols was allegedly facing that night-- some unmarked cars, which police have confirmed, and some plain-clothed officers. - This supposedly emanated from a traffic stop, which turned deadly. Some of them were unmarked squad cars. These were not all officers in uniform, only partially of them were. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): The family's attorneys arguing there were other cases of police misconduct by that unit, but that some claims were ignored, suggesting this tragedy might have been prevented. On "GMA" today, the Memphis police chief questioning the accusation in this case of reckless driving that led to the initial stop. - We haven't been able to substantiate in any type of video that there was a reckless driving type of action that prompted this stop. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Today, Tyre Nichols's mother RowVaughn Wells emotional, addressing the five officers directly-- - I want to say to the five police officers that murdered my son, you also disgraced your own families when you did this. But you know what? I'm going to pray for you and your families because, at the end of the day, this shouldn't have happened. - No, - That's right. - This just shouldn't have happened. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): --saying she has not yet had time to grieve the loss of her son herself. - No mother, no mother-- AUDIENCE: No mother. - --no mother should go through what I'm going through right now. No mother. To lose their child to the violent way that I lost my child? I still haven't had time to grieve yet. I'm still dealing with the death of my son. This is-- this was not supposed to happen. My son was supposed to be with me today. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Tyre Nichols's mother saying she could not bring herself to watch the body-camera footage. She's been told it shows her son screaming out for her. - For me to find out that my son was calling my name, and I was only feet away, and did not even hear him, you have no clue how I feel right now. No clue. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Tonight, the attorney for one of the fired officers, Desmond Mills, saying the video will likely be terrible, but that not all of the officers played an equal role here, defending his client. STEPHANIE RAMOS: You said that they weren't equal partners that night. What do you mean by that? - Everybody played their own role, and I suspect that you're going to see that some officers crossed the line. But it wasn't Desmond Mills Jr. who crossed the line. STEPHANIE RAMOS (VOICEOVER): Tyre Nichols's stepfather, Rodney Wells, saying the family is satisfied with the charges that include second-degree murder, once those charges were explained to the family. Tonight, both parents are asking for prayers for their son and their family and for any protests to be peaceful. - We want peace. We do not want any type of uproar. We do not want any type of disturbance. We want peaceful protests. That's what the family wants. That's what the community wants. - And that is what we've seen largely across many cities tonight-- Memphis, Philadelphia, and New York City. Our thanks to Stephanie reporting in from Memphis. Before we go tonight, he was a son, a father, a skateboarder, someone whose mother described him as a beautiful soul, saying, quote, "Nobody's perfect, but he was damn near." And tonight, Tyre Nichols becomes the latest Black man whose death has become a rallying cry. Our image of the day, this message of hope written in chalk on the street in Memphis as the community grapples with yet another life lost-- the words, "I believe that we will win." And that's our show for tonight. Stay with ABC News Live for more context and analysis of the day's top stories. I'm Phil Lipof. Thanks for streaming with us. [THEME MUSIC]