Philly Police Videotaped Beating Suspects

[MJS]

PHILADELPHIA - Fifteen police officers were taken off the street as authorities investigate a video showing three suspects being kicked, punched and beaten after they were pulled out of a car during a traffic stop.

Thoughts on this?

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[terryl965]

Well given the fact they where fleeing from a triple homicide and the offecers was chasing. I just did not see enough to make a strong case either way. One thing for sure they beat them while they where down.

 

[Josh]

Does not look good for the cops.

 

[MJS]

Yeah, anytime things like this make the news, it is hard to form an accurate 'picture' of what went down. Upon watching the clip, it does look bad and we hear the person commenting, to not rush to any conclusions. Does this situation warrant someone getting kicked? I would have to say no. Of course, the other end of the coin is, where any of these people resisting? Now, if someone was, I would say some force is necessary. But there is a difference, IMHO, between repeatedly kicking someone and striking a pressure point for example.

 

[Tez3]

Kicking does not look good! In these days of video cameras everywhere, every passerby seems to have on on his mobile phone, the police need to be seen to be squeaky clean and unfortunately this video doesn't show that happening.
Over here we have, especially on martial arts forurums, people scoffing at the fact it takes 5 police officers to take down and arrest one person. they are saying rightly I suppose that one good punch or techniques by one officer could 'pacify' and take the criminal down but the point of using five is to demonstrate to the public that reasonable force is being used now. One officer will control the legs, another one each an arm, another the head and another the body, this use of manpower means that hopefully we don't have scenes like this that have to be explained but the downside is that it takes a lot of manpower.

 

[Archangel M]

Not enough info yet.

At first glance I dont condone the officers actions from a tactical standpoint. If they thought they were shooters, dragging them out of a car by hand could have been fatal.

 

[shesulsa]

I'm disturbed by one officer running between the suspects kicking them. Kick one repeatedly, run to the other one and kick him.

Haven't looked at it over and over though, and the angle is bad to determine the level of resistance or if they were able to disarm the suspects ....

Not enough info yet to be sure.

 

[Twin Fist]

When it is cops vs bad guys, I always give the police +5 good will points.

 

[MA-Caver]

Kicking does not look good! In these days of video cameras everywhere, every passerby seems to have on on his mobile phone, the police need to be seen to be squeaky clean and unfortunately this video doesn't show that happening.
Over here we have, especially on martial arts forums, people scoffing at the fact it takes 5 police officers to take down and arrest one person. they are saying rightly I suppose that one good punch or techniques by one officer could 'pacify' and take the criminal down but the point of using five is to demonstrate to the public that reasonable force is being used now. One officer will control the legs, another one each an arm, another the head and another the body, this use of manpower means that hopefully we don't have scenes like this that have to be explained but the downside is that it takes a lot of manpower.

Those folks who scoff at five to one thinking that "one good punch" is enough aren't cops are they? Thank you for pointing out the obvious reason for the 5 to 1 ratio to a suspect, particularly a violent suspect in a homicide.

Kicking? Ummm, no this shouldn't be SOP. I can see the officers using that aforementioned 5:1 since there were 3 suspects. But like Shesulsa I don't think much of the one (or looked like two separate) officer running over to one bunch kicking then running over to the next bunch and kicking. It's almost like "oh-boy I'm gonna get me some of each!!" A bit too enthusiastic if you ask me. Or he didn't know where he should be. Excitement of the moment and in a andrenalin rush to be sure.
But still, since we're viewing the scene from over 50-100 feet in the air via news helicopter we don't see what the officers are seeing... guns, knives?

This is a tough call. But I don't think kicking is a good thing.

 

[rmclain]

Yep, tough to say.

A flip angle:

I knew an officer that lost a female partner when they tried to subdue a suspect. They found out later that the suspect was on PCP. The suspect took the female officer to the ground during an attempted handcuffing and preceded to repeatedly punch her - like a "ground and pound." The male officer tried to pull the suspect off of her and couldn't do it. So, he pulled his firearm and emptied his clip into the suspect at point-blank range and the suspect didn't slow down of his beating of the lady officer. (I think he carried a Baretta 92FS) The male officer tried to pull the suspect off of her again and couldn't do it. So, he loaded a fresh clip and started shooting the suspect more. On about the 4th shot, the suspect stopped beating the female officer and said, "I felt that one." The female officer ended up dying from the beating and the suspect died later due to the gunshot wounds.

So, just some added input for this discussion. What looks like a bad procedure by the cops in this video, it is difficult to say what was actually going on here.

R. McLain

 

[MA-Caver]

Yep, tough to say.

A flip angle:

I knew an officer that lost a female partner when they tried to subdue a suspect. They found out later that the suspect was on PCP. The suspect took the female officer to the ground during an attempted handcuffing and preceded to repeatedly punch her - like a "ground and pound." The male officer tried to pull the suspect off of her and couldn't do it. So, he pulled his firearm and emptied his clip into the suspect at point-blank range and the suspect didn't slow down of his beating of the lady officer. (I think he carried a Baretta 92FS) The male officer tried to pull the suspect off of her again and couldn't do it. So, he loaded a fresh clip and started shooting the suspect more. On about the 4th shot, the suspect stopped beating the female officer and said, "I felt that one." The female officer ended up dying from the beating and the suspect died later due to the gunshot wounds.

So, just some added input for this discussion. What looks like a bad procedure by the cops in this video, it is difficult to say what was actually going on here.

R. McLain

That's why at that range a shot behind the ear turns them off like a light.

 

[CoryKS]

That's why at that range a shot behind the ear turns them off like a light.

Which also looks bad on film.

/just sayin'

 

[Nolerama]

It's sad. I think most of those cops will be acquitted of any charges, except for the guy running between each group that were kicking suspects.

That's the fall guy.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

I will be very interested to hear the official story behind this one.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

(I think he carried a Beretta 92FS)

That'll teach him.