Posted on 06/23/2004 2:55:18 PM PDT by Smogger
LOS ANGELES — Police today chased a man suspected of driving a stolen car and arrested him in Compton, and news footage showed an LAPD officer hitting him repeatedly with a flashlight after he appeared to surrender
The chase began shortly after 5 a.m. in an area patrolled by the Los Angeles Police Department's Southeast Station, said LAPD Officer Sandra Escalante of the Media Relations office. The man's name was not immediately released, and it was unclear if he was injured.
Patrolling LAPD officers saw a white Toyota Camry that was reported stolen from Compton, Escalante said, adding that the officers tried in vain to pull the vehicle over.
The pursuit reportedly ended on Caldwell Street in Compton, where the man got out and ran off.
Eyewitness News aired footage shot from a helicopter that showed the man running down a grassy area near the Compton Creek. He stopped, got down on his hands and knees and appeared to surrender to an officer.
Several other officers then ran up and the man was forced face down onto the ground, where one of the officers struck at the man's upper body at least 10 times with a long flashlight.
Reportedly, one officer told a local news station that the man had been resisting.
The footage was eerily similar to the infamous video of the beating of Rodney King in 1991, which also happened at the end of a nighttime LAPD pursuit. King was struck dozens of times by officers using batons after he led them on a chase that began in the LAPD's Foothill Station jurisdiction. Video shot by an amateur cameraman and broadcast worldwide showed officers striking and kicking King. Officers were later acquitted by a Simi Valley jury in connection with the beating, triggering the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
The officers were subsequently convicted of federal charges.
Today's incident came only days after the LAPD entered a two-year period during which it must show substantial compliance with a raft of reforms mandated under a consent degree agreement reached by the city of Los Angeles and the U.S. Justice Department in 2001.
If it fails to demonstrate compliance, federal monitoring of the LAPD will continue beyond the two-year period.
The city agreed to the consent decree as a way of staving off a federal lawsuit after the Justice Department reported that it had identified a "pattern and practice" of civil rights violations by the LAPD.
I watched it as it was happening. Different time zone. Becareful of edited video. They all jumped on him to help the original cop.
This guy was not resisting arrest. This is going to cost the city a bunch of money.
I also notice one of the cops grab ahold of the guy hitting him and push him away.
I watched it in it's entirety. Maybe you should take another look.
They're screwed. The suspect hit the ground.
Police going on high speed chases is dangerous enough for the public, then they can't even do their job right by simply arresting the guy. What heroes.
I'd rather wear panties on my head rather than having no head at all!
>>My dad used to tell me that rape was almost never prosecuted in 1930's Cleveland Ohio. The police would just take the perp out behind the station house and beat the tar out of them.
Seemed to work pretty well.<<
Effective and surprisingly inexpensive.
And an excellent stress reliever to boot.
The old-timers around here talk about the days when the sheriff would just shoot vagrants at the edge of town and dump their bodies down old abandoned mine shafts.
Because of the Rodney King incident, this could end up being another flashpoint if the criminal is black and the police are perceived as trying to cover up the incident. The Rodney King riots didn't occur until the police officers were acquitted of that beating in the state courts, so if it's an analogy, there is plenty of time to defuse the situation.
And he probably deserved the beatdown.
But he should of had twenty years or so tacked onto the street justice rather than send him home to do it again in the future.
Riverman
The guy got smacked 10 times,
but more importantly the news video replay is one of the clearest I've seen on the web. Bravo KABC, for web clarity!
Now back to our story-
Take the cops flashlight batteries away for 1 week and make him wear pink panties on his head for 2. That'll teach him!!
And how did this guy not remember that the heli would be taping his every move? Idiot.
"Can't we all just get along?"
In _this_ case, let the perp kick and hammer 'flashlight boy' a dozen times, without restraint or retribution. That'll teach all the other doughnut-eaters a lesson - and maybe give 'em an opportunity get together, dress-up for the TV cameras, meet old friends, black bands over their tin stars, the same old stuff...
"If the police have to chase you, they are bringing an ass-kicking with them"....Chris Rock
See post # 39.
<|:-)~~
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