WARNING: This story contains descriptions of a man being beaten.
Memphis authorities released more than an hour of footage Friday of the violent beating of Tyre Nichols in which officers held the Black motorist down and struck him repeatedly as he screamed for his mother.
The video emerged one day after the officers were charged with murder in Nichols' death.
The footage shows police savagely beating the 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes. Nichols died three days after his Jan. 7 arrest. The Nichols family legal team has likened the assault to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.
"I'm going to baton the [expletive] out you," one officer can be heard saying. His body camera shows him raise his baton while at least one other officer holds Nichols.
After the beating, officers milled about for several minutes while Nichols lay propped up against the car, then slumped onto the street.
Cities across the U.S. braced for large demonstrations. Nichols' relatives urged supporters to protest peacefully.
"This young man, by definition of the law in this state, was terrorized. Not by one, not by two, but by five officers who we now know … acted in concert with each other," said attorney Antonio Romanucci, who represents Nichols' family.
The officers "acted together … to inflict harm, terrorism, oppression of liberty, oppression of constitutional rights, which led to murder," Romanucci said.
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn Davis described the officers' actions as "heinous, reckless and inhumane," and said that her department has been unable to substantiate the reckless driving allegation that prompted the stop.
She told The Associated Press in an interview that there is no video of the traffic stop that shows Nichols driving recklessly.
