January 27, 2023 news on the death of Tyre Nichols

In her first interview since the death of Tyre Nichols, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said the police department has been unable to find anything that's substantiated the probable cause for reckless driving. 

Speaking to CNN’s Don Lemon on Friday, Davis said, “We've looked at cameras, we've looked at body worn cameras, and even if something occurred prior to this stop, we've been unable to substantiate that. At this time.”

The city of Memphis plans to release video of Nichols' arrest sometime after 6 p.m. local time (7 p.m. ET) Friday, according to Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy.

Mulroy told CNN's Sara Sidner that the police report and the video of the incident do not overlap perfectly.  

He said he has seen the police report filed in the incident — which has not been released to the public — adding he won’t give too much detail about what’s in it.

“Is there overlap between the police report and the events? Yes. Is there a perfect overlap? No,” he said. “And you know that's the kind of thing that I think the ongoing federal investigation might be particularly interested in.” 

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An attorney for one of the officers charged with the murder of Tyre Nichols said he doesn't believe his client "is capable of" the accusations against him. 

"When this video comes out, I expect that Mr. Mills will not be delivering blows that cause death," Blake Ballin, the attorney representing Desmond Mills, Jr., said in an interview with CNN's Don Lemon. "I've sat down with Mr. Mills, I've looked him in the eye, I know the kind of person he is; I've talked with other people who have seen the video, and I just don't believe that Mr. Mills is capable of committing that act."

Ballin said he has not watched the video himself yet, but he's spoken to people who have seen the footage.

Ballin said his client is "remorseful" to be "connected to the death" of Nichols. 

"He is remorseful that he is attached to anything like this, that he is involved or connected to the death of somebody who, whose life should not have been taken. That is devastating to him."

Ballin also called Mills a "victim" of the system he worked within. 

"Just because Mr. Mills was a part of that system doesn't mean that he can't also be a victim of it, and so it's my job to protect him and to protect his rights," he said. "I believe Desmond Mills is a good person."

"I caution everyone to look at this with an open mind and to treat each of these officers as individuals," Ballin said.

The Shelby County district attorney said the charges his office brought against the former Memphis officers in the death of Tyre Nichols show that they “caused his death and are responsible for his death.”

District Attorney Steve Mulroy told CNN that he wouldn’t characterize the video of the incident that will be released later on Friday, but added that anyone who has seen the video has “realized relatively quickly" that this "needed to be followed up on.”

Mulroy called the video “heartbreaking.” 

When he first watched it, Mulroy said his "heart just went out to the family of Tyre Nichols, you know, because I knew eventually they would see this video, they would have to watch this.”

He said he immediately understood this incident could possibly be "explosive."

“I've only been on the job, not even five months and you know, I realized that this could be potentially explosive,” Mulroy said.

In an exclusive CNN interview Friday, Tyre Nichols' mother discussed race in the context of police violence, pointing to Black and brown kids who she said "always get beat up" when they encounter police, no matter the color of the officer. 

"I don't care what color police officer [it is.] But by [the accused officers being Black, it hurt the Black community," she added. "They have brought shame to their own families. They have brought shame to the Black community."

She said these former officers "have to show some compassion to people" and they have to "learn that everyone is human and everyone."

Wells said Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis is "doing an excellent job. I feel she's moving things along."

Wells said she wanted to see first degree murder charges brought against the officers involved in her son’s death, but she understands that the charges brought against them will be the ones that "will stick. And so I'm happy with the charges that the district attorney has set forth."

CNN’s Amanda Watts contributed reporting to this post.

Attorney Benjamin Crump told CNN Friday some of the last words Tyre Nichols says on the video of his arrest are him calling out to his mother. 

Wells has not watched the video of her son’s beating, but says she knows enough about the incident that she feels sorry for the officers.

"They have put their own families in harm's way. They have brought shame to their own families. They brought shame to the Black community," she said through tears. “I feel sorry for them. I really do. I really feel sorry for them, because they didn't have to do this."

Tyre weighed 150 pounds, his mother said. “And those men, if you combine their weights, they all — it was over 1,000 pounds, beating and beating a 150-pound person to death.”

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The mother of Tyre Nichols said she’ll miss his “beautiful smile" the most.

Speaking to CNN’s Don Lemon, RowVaughn Wells said, “My son had a beautiful soul and he touched a lot of people.”

“I always joke — because he'll come in the house and he'll come in and say ‘hello parents’ — and I’ll never hear that again,” Wells said. “I'll never cook for my son again. I'll never get a hug from my son again. I won’t get anything from my son again, just because some officers decided they wanted to do harm to my son.”

“No mother should have to go through this,” she added.

Tyre Nichols' mother spoke to CNN about seeing her son in the hospital after his traffic stop.

"Around 4:00 in the morning, the doctors called from St. Francis and said, 'Mrs. Wells, do you know your son's in the hospital?' And I said, 'yes, I was advised by the police officers.' He said, 'why aren't you here?' And I said, 'the police officers said that I couldn't come, because he was under arrest.' The doctor proceeded to tell me that my son had went into cardiac arrest and that his kidneys were failing," RowVaughn Wells told CNN about why she was delayed in getting to her son.

She said her son was "already gone" by the time she and her husband got to the hospital.

"Even if he did live, he would have been a vegetable," she added.

By the time she got to the hospital, she said the police officers has been "whisked away" and heard that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation " had taken over the investigation."

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In their first interview since charges were announced for the officer involved, Tyre Nichol’s parents told CNN’s Don Lemon in an exclusive interview that they are living in a nightmare. 

It’s been less than a month since her son died.

“I don't have my baby. I'll never have my baby again,” she said. “I do know that he was a good person. And that all this — all the good in Tyre will come out and so that's what keeps me going, because I just feel like my son was sent here on assignment.”

“His assignment [is] over. It's over. And he was sent back home. And God is not gonna let any of his children's names go in vain. So, when this is all over, it's gonna be some good and some positive because my son was a good and positive person,” she added.

Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said paramedics who were at the scene at some point during the Tyre Nichols traffic stop “failed to render proper care.”

“Based on the video, they failed to render proper care, and it's just based on my assessment,” she told CNN Friday in her first interview since the incident.

The care came "several minutes" after, she said, adding that it was “concerning for all of us, that we see a number of failures where individuals did not exercise the amount of care that we are responsible for — no matter what the cause is we are responsible for exercising care.”  

Davis noted that the fire chief also quickly began an investigation into their actions on scene.

Nichols suffered “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to preliminary results of an autopsy commissioned by attorneys for his family.

“We can state that preliminary findings indicate Tyre suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating, and that his observed injuries are consistent with what the family and attorneys witnessed on the video of his fatal encounter with police on January 7, 2023,” attorney Benjamin Crump said in a statement.

CNN has asked Crump for a copy of the autopsy commissioned by the family, but he said the full report is not yet ready. Officials have also not released Nichols’ autopsy.

CNN's Alisha Ebrahimji contributed to this post.