Thursday, May 8, 2008

Tape Captures Philly Police Brutally Beating Suspects

"On the surface it certainly does not look good…”

Those words, spoken by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey in response to a television station helicopter captured police officers beating several people on film during a traffic stop.

The beating, captured by WTXF-TV came two days after a Philadelphia officer was shot and killed in the line of duty trying to apprehend a robbery suspect.

About a dozen officers are shown kicking and punching the suspects—who have since been charged with criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, simple assault and reckless endangerment, according to court officials.

One man was allegedly struck with a baton.

"At a glance it does appear to be a bit beyond the pale," said Doug Oliver, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Nutter. "Officers are not allowed to operate outside of the law."

While Oliver acknowledged the severity of the video, he also asked the public not to jump to any conclusions.

"We are not going to prejudge the situation based on the video," he said. "We all saw the video, but none of us was there."

Ramsey echoed Oliver’s sentiments, saying “we don’t want to rush to judgment.”

All of the officers involved in the incident have been taken off the street and assigned to office duties.

Check out the video below...
Read More...

2 comments:

blogger said...

What no post on how only days before three young men assassinated a police officer while committing a bank robbery?

I have no sympathy for these kids - they were involved in a shooting for god's sake.. obviously (considering the prior arrests of 2) jail is not threatening..maybe a few hundred kicks in the face will teach them to stay the hell out of trouble!

The victim mentality does not fair well for convicted felons.

Anonymous said...

Kristen...
We are not to rush to judgment of the police officers clearly beating these men up - even after down on the ground with knees in their backs, HOWEVER, you rush to judge these "kids".

What happened to innocent until proven guilty for the "kids" as well as the police officers.

Your comments and support of brutal police force clearly puts you in the same ranks as the "kids".

This in unjustified brutality, and as an American, I am horrified, not only of their actions, but your prejudiced re-action.

We see innocent motorists tazed for not having license available quick enough; another tazed for refusing to sign a speeding ticket; a lady, leaving a bar, tazed multiple times, even after hitting her head on the car while falling to the ground, and then again once locked in back seat of police car.

You or I may be next. We don't support the criminals, and we must NEVER support police brutality!