Tyre Nichols: Mother describes her grief at dying son's bedside

The mother of a Memphis man who died after he was beaten by police during a traffic stop told the BBC of her grief upon seeing her son dying in hospital.

RowVaughn Wells also said she believes police lied to her about the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Tyre Nichols, 29.

Mr Nichols died three days after a 7 January traffic stop by five police officers, who now face murder charges.

Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Ms Wells said: "When I walked into the hospital, I saw my son - I already knew what they did.

"I don't need to see a video to show me what they did. I saw the end results. My son is dead."

• Live updates from Memphis

At a news conference earlier Ms Wells said she has not been able to watch the footage - and urged parents not to let their children watch it.

She also said the five sacked black police officers had let down the black community and disgraced their families.

During the press conference, a family lawyer said the video shows Mr Nichols' "last words on this earth are, 'mom, mom, mom'".

Ms Wells told the BBC that as more details emerge she was becoming increasingly convinced that police initially lied to her.

They told her they had to subdue her son with a stun gun and pepper spray after he resisted arrest for drink-driving, she said.

"But when I got to the hospital, I saw a whole different thing," she said, "which I'm sure you've seen in the picture.

"That don't look like a person being tased and just pepper sprayed."

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Memphis' police chief told the BBC on Friday that she was "appalled" by the footage.

Cerelyn Davis, who is the first black woman to serve in the role, said she had viewed video of the incident two weeks ago.

"My reaction was shock," she told the BBC. "Something happened that we can't explain."

Ms Davis said the encounter "began at an aggressive stage".

She said "ego" and "a lot of other factors" played a role in the officers' behaviour.

Ms Davis said taking action quickly was "very important" to her.

"It was important for me to demonstrate not just to the public but to Tyre's family that I am not going to let something like this happen," she said.