Nine sheriff’s deputies in Memphis have been indicted in the death of a man with mental health problems who died in custody last fall after being stomped, punched and pinned down. It is the latest case to draw attention to how law enforcement responds to people in mental distress.

The indictments against the Shelby County, Tenn., deputies were announced by Sheriff Floyd Bonner at a news conference where he disputed that his deputies had caused the death of Gershun Freeman, 33.

Mr. Freeman was being held at the Shelby County Jail last fall and, according to his family’s lawyer, kept in a section reserved for suicidal inmates before being beaten after he yelled throughout the day in his cell.

Mr. Freeman’s mother, Kim Freeman, said in an interview on Thursday that the deputies had fostered a brutal culture at the Memphis jail, and that justice now rested in “God’s hands.”

Ben Crump, a lawyer for Ms. Freeman who has also represented the family of George Floyd and other families of Black people killed by law enforcement, said on Thursday that “we have another young Black man being killed unjustly with visual evidence of the brutality that was inflicted upon him, and you have a brokenhearted mother.”

Sheriff Bonner, by holding a news conference, was able to announce the indictments himself, pre-empting the district attorney. Sheriff Bonner is running for mayor of Memphis, the seat of Shelby County. The district attorney there, Steve Mulroy, recused himself from the case against the deputies because he had already endorsed Sheriff Bonner’s opponent, Van Turner, a former president of the Memphis branch of the N.A.A.C.P.

The district attorney in Nashville, Glenn Funk, is instead prosecuting the case. “We are not commenting at all on a pending case, or the comments made by Sheriff Bonner,” Steve Hayslip, the director of communications from Mr. Funk’s office, said on Thursday. “All of our public comments will come in open court.”

Two of the deputies, Stevon D. Jones and Courtney J. Parham, were charged with second-degree murder, and seven more were charged with aggravated assault, according to the indictment. Six of those deputies were Anthony D. Howell, Chelsea B. Duckett, Ebonee N. Davis, Damian S. Cooper Jr., Lareko Donwel Elliot and Jeffrey A. Gibson. The name of a seventh deputy was redacted from the indictment because he or she had not turned themselves in yet, the Shelby County Criminal Court Clerk’s Office said.

Jake Brown, a lawyer for Mr. Freeman’s family, said in an interview that he had spoken about the indictments on Wednesday morning with the district attorney’s office in Nashville. Mr. Freeman’s family is also pursuing a civil suit against Shelby County.

Sheriff Bonner said that “the way the case was being handled is political, and it’s only grown worse” and that Mr. Funk should not have released footage in March of the episode.

“I believe if I were not running for another office these indictments never would have happened,” Sheriff Bonner said, “and I find that despicable.”

On Thursday morning his office said, “What was released during our press conference is all of the information we can share at this time.”

An autopsy found that Mr. Freeman had a heart condition that was worsened by the beating, The Commercial Appeal of Memphis reported.

Mr. Freeman, who had long struggled with his mental health, was arrested last Oct. 1 after he was accused of attacking and kidnapping his girlfriend.

Footage of the beating days later, on Oct. 5, shows Mr. Freeman being beaten by at least nine deputies after running naked from his cell. Mr. Brown said that Mr. Freeman initially ran out because an officer was pointing a chemical irritant spray at him.

In the video, which has no sound, Mr. Freeman remains on the floor as deputies kick and punch him. At one point, two deputies who appear to slip on the floor walk toward Mr. Freeman and hold his legs as other deputies grab him.

Mr. Freeman then breaks free, runs in the hallways and is sprayed with what appears to be chemical irritant, causing him to fall down. He then gets up and runs up an escalator. A deputy catches up with him, and Mr. Freeman appears to swing at the deputy, the footage shows. Mr. Freeman is then brought back down by three deputies who punch and kick him, eventually handcuffing him.

Mr. Freeman appears to move again while on the floor and handcuffed, as one deputy places a knee on his upper back. The video shows the deputy keeping a knee there for about six minutes before Mr. Freeman is dragged up, but his body appears to be limp.

Mr. Freeman was pronounced dead at the jail, Mr. Brown said.

The indicted officers are on paid administrative leave, Sheriff Bonner said, adding that if a fund-raiser was held to help with their legal fees, he would “be the first one to donate.”

In a separate case that has drawn a national outcry and closer scrutiny of policing practices in Memphis, Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was beaten by officers there in January. He was stopped for what the police initially said was reckless driving and died three days after a violent confrontation ensued.

In this case, Mr. Freeman is Black, and most of the deputies in the video and booking photos appear to be too.

Ms. Freeman said that her son — who had a wife, a 14-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter — had grown up in Memphis as a compassionate mother’s boy who sought to help people he viewed as underdogs.

Tall and athletic, Mr. Freeman was a gifted basketball player beloved by his teammates, his mother said. Once, when he helped his middle school team win a championship, a coach realized that Mr. Freeman couldn’t afford the ring to commemorate the victory and bought one for him because he had been “such a class act” all season, Ms. Freeman said.

Her son’s mental health struggles were rooted in his being a Black man trying to make it in society, she said, adding that he struggled with depression and anxiety.

She said she would never watch the video of her son’s beating.

“But one thing I know about the video: A video don’t lie,” she said. “So if you want the answers to anything, just look at the video.”