MEMPHIS -- Memphis authorities released video footage Friday showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by police officers who held the Black motorist down and repeatedly struck him with their fists, boots and batons as he screamed for his mother.
The video shows the officers, who are also Black, chasing and pummeling Nichols and leaving him on the pavement propped against a squad car as they fist-bump and celebrate their actions.
The footage emerged one day after the officers were charged with murder in Nichols' death.
Protesters gathered in multiple cities, including Memphis, where several dozen demonstrators blocked the Interstate 55 bridge that carries traffic over the Mississippi River toward Arkansas. Semitrailers were backed up for a distance.
Nichols' relatives urged supporters to protest peacefully.
"I don't want us burning up our city, tearing up the streets, because that's not what my son stood for," Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, said Thursday. "If you guys are here for me and Tyre, then you will protest peacefully."
In Washington, dozens of protesters gathered in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House and near Black Lives Matter Plaza.
The recording shows police beating the 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes while screaming profanities at him throughout the attack. The Nichols family's legal team has likened the assault to the 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.
After the first officer roughly pulls Nichols out of a car, Nichols can be heard saying, "I didn't do anything" as a group of officers begins to wrestle him to the ground.
One officer is heard yelling, "Tase him! Tase him!"
Nichols calmly says, "OK, I'm on the ground."
"You guys are really doing a lot right now," Nichols says. "I'm just trying to go home."
"Stop, I'm not doing anything," he yells moments later.
Nichols can then be seen running as an officer fires a Taser at him. The officers then start chasing Nichols.
Other officers are called, and a search ensues before Nichols is caught at another intersection. The officers beat him with a baton, kick and punch him.
As Nichols is slumped up against a car, not one of the officers renders aid. The body camera footage shows a first-person view of one of them reaching down and tying his shoe.
It takes more than 20 minutes after Nichols is beaten and on the pavement before any sort of medical attention is provided to him, even though two Fire Department officers arrived on the scene with medical equipment within 10 minutes.
The video raises questions about the role and possible culpability of the other officers at the scene, in addition to the five who were charged. The footage shows a number of other officers standing around after the beating.
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn "CJ" Davis has said other officers are under investigation for their part in the arrest.
Davis described the officers' actions as "heinous, reckless and inhumane," and said 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 recklessly driving.
During the initial stop, the video shows the officers were "already ramped up, at about a 10," she said. The officers were "aggressive, loud, using profane language and probably scared Mr. Nichols from the very beginning."
Cities across the country braced for large demonstrations. Protests were planned Friday night in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York City and Portland, Ore.
Speaking at the White House, President Joe Biden said Friday that he was "very concerned" about the prospect of violence and called for protests to remain peaceful.
Biden said he spoke with Nichols' mother earlier in the day and told her that he was going to be "making a case" to Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act "to get this under control." The legislation, which has been stalled, is meant to tackle police misconduct and excessive force and boost federal and state accountability efforts.
Court records showed that all five former officers -- Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith -- were taken into custody.
The officers each face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Four of the five officers had posted bond and were released from custody by Friday morning, according to court and jail records.
Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner said in a statement late Friday that two deputies who appeared on the scene after the beating have been relieved of duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
Patrick Yoes, the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, condemned the alleged actions of the Memphis officers.
"The event as described to us ... is a criminal assault under the pretext of law," Yoes said in a statement.
As state and federal investigations continue, Davis promised the Police Department's "full and complete cooperation."
Information for this article was contributed by Aaron Morrison, Travis Loller and Rebecca Reynolds of The Associated Press.