Family attorney: 'This kidnapping charge -- it is terrorism'
Tyre Nichols family attorney Antonio Romanucci stressed the fact that the charges against the Memphis police officers include kidnapping.
By Tennessee law, he said, “the definition that we are dealing with here on this kidnapping charge -- it is terrorism."
"When you think of 9/11, what's the word that comes to mind? Terrorism. When you think of other heinous acts that have happened in churches across this country, any act of terrorism, what does that instill in you? That, ladies and gentlemen, is the definition that we are dealing with here on this kidnapping charge," he said at Friday's press conference. "It is terrorism. It was designed to terrorize the victim."
Family attorney Ben Crump added, “One of the things that must be stated about the kidnapping charge … when you all see this video, you're going to see Tyre Nichols is calling out for his mom.”
“He calls out three times for his mother. His last words on this Earth is, ‘mom,’” Crump said. “When you think about that kidnapping charge, [Nichols] said, 'I just want to go home.' I mean, it's a traffic stop, for God's sake.”
Ben Crump describes Tyre Nichols' last words