Tyre Nichols' funeral: Grieving mother calls on Congress for police reform

Thousands of people gathered in Memphis for the funeral of Tyre Nichols, a black man who died three days after being beaten by police.

Mourners included US Vice-President Kamala Harris, and the families of black Americans killed by police, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Ms Harris said in a speech that Nichols died "at the hands and the feet of people who had been charged with keeping [people] safe".

Bodycam footage released last week shows Nichols, 29, being brutally punched, kicked and hit with batons by police officers after they stopped him for an alleged traffic violation on January 7.

Five officers, who are all black, have been charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression.

Both Ms Harris and RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, called for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a sweeping reform bill that includes a national registry of officers disciplined for misconduct and a ban of no-knock warrants.

Ms Harris said the beating went against the mission of police to protect public safety.

"It was not in the interest of keeping the public safe, because one must ask, was not it in the interest of keeping the public safe that Tyre Nichols would be with us today? Was he not also entitled to the right to be safe?” she said.

“So when we talk about public safety, let us understand what it means in its truest form. Tyre Nichols should have been safe.”

Ms Wells fought back tears as she spoke of her son.

“The only thing that's keeping me going is that I truly believe that my son was sent here on assignment from God,” she said.

“And I guess now his assignment is done. He's gone home.”

Calling for the Justice in Policing Act to be passed, she said: "We need to take some action because there should be no other child that should suffer the way my son [did].”

If the bill is not passed, she said, “the next child that dies, that blood is going to be on their hands."

Nichols, who worked at FedEx and loved skateboarding and photography, had one son, aged four.

The funeral was delayed because of bad weather, with reports that some mourners were unable to make it to the church.