By Alyssa Pointer and Steve Gorman

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Reuters) – Tire Nichols repeatedly shouted: “Mom! Mom!” As the five Memphis police officers now charged in the murder of the black motorist beat him with kicks, punches and batons aCentre County Reporter a traffic stop on Jan. 7, video released by the city on Friday showed.

Video from body-worn police cameras and a camera mounted on a utility pole was leaked online a day aCentre County Reporter officers were charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and suppression in Nichols’ death.

The officers, all black, were fired from the police department last week. Nichols, 29, was hospitalized and died of his injuries three days aCentre County Reporter the confrontation in the city where he lived with his mother and stepfather and worked at FedEx (NYSE:).

The four video clips show an aggressive escalation of violence against a motorist who police initially said had stopped for reckless driving. The police chief has since said the reason for the stop was not justified.

The beatings appeared to extend well beyond a point where Nichols could pose a threat to police. At one point, two officers hold him upright while another repeatedly punches him in the face while other officers watch at the scene without intervening.

The ordeal captured on video has transformed Nichols, the father of a 4-year-old, into the latest face of a US racial justice movement sparked by the 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

Nichols has been described by friends and family as an easy-going, accomplished skateboarder who recently enrolled in a photography class. Raised in Sacramento, California, he relocated to the Memphis area before the coronavirus pandemic.

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, aCentre County Reporter seeing the video, said he had “concerns about two deputies who showed up at the scene” aCentre County Reporter Nichols was arrested. These MPs have been suspended from duty pending the completion of an internal investigation, he said on Twitter.

ACentre County Reporter the video was released Friday night, several dozen protesters in Memphis marched along Interstate 55, blocking traffic near a bridge that crosses the Mississippi River into Arkansas.

Three people have been arrested for damaging a police vehicle during protests in Times Square, a New York City Police Department spokesman said. In other cities, including Atlanta, Washington and Sacramento, the demonstrations were largely peaceful.

The first video released on Friday shows officers dragging Nichols from the driver’s seat of his car stopped at an intersection as he yells, “I haven’t done anything… I’m just trying to go home.” Officers force him to the ground while they ordering him to lie on his stomach and spraying pepper spray in his face.

Nichols breaks free and sprints down a street while officers pursue him on foot. At least one fires a stun gun at him.

Other footage shows an ensuing fight aCentre County Reporter officers caught up with Nichols again in a nearby neighborhood. Two cops hold him down while a third kicks him and a fourth deals punches with a baton before another punches Nichols.

Nichols can be heard repeatedly yelling, “Mom! Mom!” while fighting with officers. His mother said her son was only about 80 yards from home when he was beaten.

A stretcher will arrive 19 minutes aCentre County Reporter the first emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene.

INDIGNATION

Memphis Police Commissioner Cerelyn Davis said before the video was released that it showed behavior by police officers “that defies humanity.”

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Nichols family, asked police to disband their SCORPIONS unit, a unit designed to focus on street violence crimes and to which at least some of the officers involved have been assigned.

“No mother should go through what I’m going through right now, no mother to lose her child in the violent way I lost my child,” said Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells.

President Joe Biden said he was “outraged” and “deeply distressed” aCentre County Reporter seeing the video.

Nichols’ family and Biden appealed for calm in Memphis, a city of 628,000 where nearly 65% ​​of residents are black. Biden spoke to RowVaughn Wells and Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, on Friday to express his condolences, the White House said.

Nichols’ death was the latest high-profile case by police officers accused of using excessive force in the deaths of blacks and other minorities in recent years.

Protests under the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement against racial injustice erupted around the world aCentre County Reporter the May 2020 killing of Floyd, a black man who died aCentre County Reporter a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.

Antonio Romanucci, another attorney for Nichols’ family, told National Public Radio on Friday that Nichols was a strong supporter of Black Lives Matter and “basically died for his own cause.”

US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday announced a federal civil rights investigation into Nichols’ death.

Records show that former officers Justin Smith, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, Demetrius Haley and Tadarrius Bean were released on bail aCentre County Reporter being booked into the Shelby County Jail Thursday morning.

Defense attorney Blake Ballin, representing Mills, said he and his client would review the videos “together in due course.” He has said Mills will plead not guilty, as will an attorney for Martin. Smith, Bean and Haley’s attorneys could not be reached.