Five former Memphis police officers have been charged with murder following a traffic stop, and video of the incident appears to show them taking turns punching and kicking the driver mercilessly.
Tyre Nichols, 29, is frequently heard pleading with his mother throughout the arrest on January 7 in Memphis.
The recordings show Mr. Nichols getting shocked with a Taser before running away. Then, there are clips of him being restrained and beaten.
On Friday night, protests are expected in Memphis and other US cities.
Police initially said Mr. Nichols had been pulled over on the basis of a reckless driving suspect, but this claim has now been refuted. Three days later, on January 10, he passed away in the hospital.
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“Like so many, I was shocked and terribly pained to witness the awful footage of the beating that ended in Tyre Nichols’ death,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement.
On Friday night, the Memphis Police Department released four graphic recordings of the traffic stop.
In the opening video, officers drag Mr. Nichols from his car and order him to the ground.
I did nothing, he exclaims. He is then knocked to the ground by police, who order him to lie flat.
Mr. Nichols immediately stands up and tries to flee when one of the officers uses a Taser on him in a matter of seconds.
Two cops are seen holding Mr. Nichols down while other officers alternately kick, punch, and strike him with what seems to be a baton in a second video, which purports to show the view from a CCTV camera mounted on a pole across the street in a residential neighborhood.
He is dragged across the ground and placed up against a police cruiser.
In the third and fourth films, which depict the beating captured on police body cameras, Mr. Nichols is restrained, pepper-sprayed, and pummeled while constantly shouting, “Mom!”
RowVaughn Wells, the mother of Mr. Nichols, stated that her son was barely 230 feet (about 70 meters) away from his house when Memphis police officers “murdered” him.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, and Justin Smith were the five cops who were terminated last week.
Second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression are the allegations that they are all facing.
