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This article contains descriptions of violence that some people may find distressing

Footage of a traffic stop showed five Memphis police officers kicking and punching a motorist to his death as he was crying out for his mother. 

Footage of a traffic stop that has seen five ex-Memphis police officers charged with murder shows them kicking and punching a motorist for several minutes as he cries out for his mother.

The officers charged with murder were seen beating Tyre Nichols, 29, in the videos from the 7 January arrest, with no signs of him resisting.

US President Joe Biden said he was "deeply pained" by the "horrific" clip.

Peaceful protests erupted in Memphis on Friday night after the video was published. Many protesters held banners demanding justice for Mr Nichols and an end to "police terror".

Police said Mr Nichols had been stopped on suspicion of irresponsible driving. He passed away in hospital three days later, on 10 January.

Mr Nichols was black, as are all five officers charged in the case.

Mr Nichols died three days after an encounter with police at a traffic stop

The first clip shows officers pulling Mr Nichols out of his vehicle and shouting at him to get on the ground.

"I didn't do anything!" he says. 

"Get on the [expletive] ground!" one officer shouts, as another is heard saying: "Tase him!"

An officer shouts: "Put your hands behind your back before I break your [expletive]."

"You guys are really doing a lot right now," Mr Nichols says to the officers. "I'm just trying to go home."

Within seconds one of the officers fires a Taser at Mr Nichols, who leaps up and manages to run away.

A separate video, from a CCTV camera mounted on a utility pole, shows officers beating Mr Nichols after capturing him in a residential area. Two officers held Mr. Nichols down while kicking and striking him with an expandable baton. They pulled him across the ground and maintained him sitting up against a squad car. More than 20 minutes passed until an ambulance is seen arriving.

Nichols' family was presented with a private viewing of the video Monday. His mother, RowVaughn Wells, was only able to bare the first minute, family attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci said.

Wells said “what I’ve heard is very horrific.

“Any of you who have children, please don’t let them see it,” she added during a news conference Friday.