The Black man, Tyre Nichols, killed by Memphis police officers earlier this month, is seen on camera crying out for his mother before the policemen repeatedly strike him, especially in the face while he has his hands tied.
Nichols appears to have been left on the ground unattended numerous times before an ambulance arrives, despite the fact that paramedics arrive only minutes after officers withdraw.
On Friday night, the city revealed body camera and surveillance footage of the traffic stop and assault that occurred on January 7. Three days later, the 29-year-old victim died in the hospital from his injuries. The news comes after five former Memphis police officers, all Black and dismissed, were charged with murder the day before.
Experts in law enforcement were shocked by the clip, and authorities including Vice President Joe Biden expressed indignation, calling it “yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day.”
Live Updates: Video of deadly police beating of Tyre Nichols released
After the recordings were made public on Friday night, protesters in Memphis took to the highway, shutting down both lanes of the bridge connecting the western Tennessee city to Arkansas.