Memphis Cops Caught on Video Beating Gershun Freeman to Death in Jail. At Least 10 Cops Repeatedly Punch, Kick and Stomp on Naked Black Man. Beating So Brutal it Looks Like the Video was Sped Up

From [HERE] A Black man having a psychotic episode died in custody last fall after Memphis jailors punched, kicked and kneeled on his back during a confrontation, according to a video released this week by a Tennessee prosecutor.

The Nashville District Attorney’s Office released video Thursday of Gershun Freeman, 33, at the Shelby County Jail in Memphis, news outlets reported. 

The video shows Freeman was beaten by at least 10 corrections officers on Oct. 5 after he ran naked from his cell.

Freeman had “psychosis and cardiovascular disease and died of a heart attack while being restrained,” Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner said in a statement Thursday, citing the medical examiner’s report. 

Prominent civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who is representing Freeman's family, said in a statement “he was naked and clearly suffering from a mental health crisis.” He called the death “another shocking example of police brutality” in Memphis.

Freeman’s manner of death is listed as a homicide in the autopsy report from the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center, although the report says this “is not meant to definitively indicate criminal intent.”

In his statement, the Shelby County sheriff said it was unfortunate the video does not show the whole episode. The video has been edited and includes multiple camera angles in different parts of the jail. 

The district attorney's office for Shelby County has brought in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to look into the death. It has asked the Nashville District Attorney General's Office to act as an independent prosecutor in the case. 

Freeman was booked in jail on Oct. 1 on charges of attacking and kidnapping his girlfriend, according to court records. [MORE]