Tyre Nichols funeral live updates: Officials renew calls for police reform as Nichols' family celebrates his life

The emotional funeral for Tyre Nichols ended Wednesday afternoon with Nichols’ family leaving the ceremony first as mourners stood and watched them.

A soloist sang Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” as the family exited the service.

The choir concluded with “Oh How Precious,” a gospel song that has been recorded by multiple artists.

The mother of Tyre Nichols said her son was “a beautiful person” whose killing was “unimaginable.”

RowVaughn Wells said the only thing keeping her going after her son's death was her faith. She repeated calls for the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

“Because there should be no other child that should suffer the way my son and all the other parents here that have lost their children,” she said, breaking down with emotion as she spoke.

Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, said the family looks forward to “getting justice for all the families over there.”

“We have to fight for justice. We cannot continue to let these people brutalize our kids,” he said. 

Wells added that “what’s done in a dark will always come to the light, and the light of day is justice for Tyre, justice for all the families that have lost loved ones to brutality of police or anybody.”

A sister of Tyre Nichols described “anger” and “deep sorrow” over the loss of her “baby brother.”

“My brother was robbed of his life, his passions and his talents, but not his light,” the sister, Keyana Dixon, said.

“I see the world showing him love and fighting for his justice, but all I want is my baby brother back,” she said through tears.

Dixon said when she heard the news of her brother's killing, she cried and lost her faith, then was full of “anger,” “deep sorrow” and “pain I never felt, when those monsters murdered my baby brother.”

“My family will never be the same, and I will just always love my baby brother, forever.”

The death of Tyre Nichols and ensuing prosecution of police officers who beat the Memphis motorist will be the young man's lasting legacy, one of his family's attorneys said.

Nichols was beaten during a traffic stop on Jan. 7 and died on Jan. 10. Five officers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection with his death.

Attorney Ben Crump listed the cases of several Black men and women who died at the hands of authorities, where no arrests have been made or took months or years to happen.

"No more, no more can they ever tell us: When we have evidence on video of them brutalizing us, that it's going to take six years, that it's going to take a month, that it's going to take three years like Laquan McDonald," Crump told mourners.

"No, no, no, 20 days. We're going to start counting. We can count to 20 and every time you kill one of us on video, we're going to say the legacy of Tyre Nichols is that we have equal justice swiftly. Swiftly. Swiftly."

The Rev. Al Sharpton called for police reform, beginning with the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which among other provisions in the bill would end "qualified immunity," a judicial doctrine that protects police officers from civil lawsuits. Advocates of the bill believe it will increase police accountability.

"You will have to think twice before you beat Tyre Nichols. You think twice before you shoot at someone unarmed. You think twice before you chokehold Eric Garner. You think twice before you put your knee on George Floyd’s neck because if you don’t have qualified immunity, your wife will be telling you before you leave home, 'Behave yourself,'" he said.

"We're asking to be treated equal and to be treated fair."

The Rev. Al Sharpton said that as they died, both Tyre Nichols and George Floyd called for their mothers, seeking home and comfort.

“All he wanted to do was get home,” Sharpton said.

“Home is not just a physical location. Home is where you are at peace. Home is where you’re not vulnerable. Home is where everything is alright,” he said.

“He said, all I want to do is get home. I come to Memphis to say the reason I keep going is, all I’m trying to do is get home,” Sharpton said. “I want to get where they can’t treat me with a double standard — I’m trying to get home. I want to get where they can’t call me names no more — I want to get home. I want to get where they can’t shoot and ask questions later — I’m trying to get home. Every Black in America stands up every day trying to get home."

The Rev. Al Sharpton said Tyre Nichols will be “a symbol for justice all over this country.”

“I believe that babies unborn will know about Tyre Nichols because we won’t let his memory die,” he said. “We’re going to change this country because we refuse to keep living under the threat of the cops and the robbers.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton returned to the pulpit for the eulogy for Tyre Nichols, saying that one reason the man’s death was so personal to him was because Nichols was killed during an encounter with five Black officers. Those officers would not have been able to gain the positions they did within their police department without hard-fought battles by civil rights activists, including Martin Luther King Jr., Sharpton said.

“In the city that Dr. King lost his life, not far away from that balcony, you beat a brother to death,” he said.

“There’s nothing more insulting and offensive to those of us that fight to open doors, than you walk through those doors and act like the folks we had to fight for to get you through them though.”

"I believe that if that man had been white, you wouldn’t have beat him like that that night,” Sharpton added.