Posted on 10/10/2005 4:35:21 AM PDT by stm
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Two New Orleans police officers repeatedly punched a 64-year-old man accused of public intoxication, and another city officer assaulted an Associated Press Television News producer as a cameraman taped the confrontations.
There will be a criminal investigation, and the three officers were to be suspended, arrested and charged with simple battery Sunday, Capt. Marlon Defillo said.
"We have great concern with what we saw this morning," Defillo said after he and about a dozen other high-ranking police department officials watched the APTN footage Sunday. "It's a troubling tape, no doubt about it. ... This department will take immediate action."
The assaults come as the department, long plagued by allegations of brutality and corruption, struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the resignation last month of Police Superintendent Eddie Compass.
|
Robert Davis, who was repeatedly punched by two police officers during his arrest is shown in a mug shot released by the police in New Orleans Sunday afternoon Oct. 9, 2005. Davis, 64, of New Orleans, was booked on public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation. The arrest sparked an investigation of the arresting officers. (AP Photo/HO New Orleans Police) |
The APTN tape shows an officer hitting the man at least four times in the head Saturday night as he stood outside a bar near Bourbon Street. The suspect, Robert Davis, appeared to resist, twisting and flailing as he was dragged to the ground by four officers. Another of the four officers then kneed Davis and punched him twice. Davis was face-down on the sidewalk with blood streaming down his arm and into the gutter.
Meanwhile, a fifth officer ordered APTN producer Rich Matthews and the cameraman to stop recording. When Matthews held up his credentials and explained he was working, the officer grabbed the producer, leaned him backward over a car, jabbed him in the stomach and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade.
"I've been here for six weeks trying to keep ... alive. ... Go home!" shouted the officer, who later identified himself as S.M. Smith.
Police said Davis, 64, of New Orleans, was booked on public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation. He was treated at a hospital and released into police custody.
A mug shot of Davis, provided by a jailer, showed him with his right eye swollen shut, an apparent abrasion on the left side of his neck and a cut on his right temple.
"The incidents taped by our cameraman are extremely troubling," said Mike Silverman, AP's managing editor. "We are heartened that the police department is taking them seriously and promising a thorough investigation."
Davis, who is black, was subdued at the intersection of Conti and Bourbon streets. Three of the officers appeared to be white, and the other is light skinned. The officer who hit Matthews is white. Defillo said race was not an issue.
Three of the five officers - including Smith - are New Orleans officers, and two others appeared to be federal officers. Numerous agencies have sent police to help with patrols in the aftermath of Katrina.
Under normal circumstances, it takes unusually offensive behavior to trigger an arrest on Bourbon Street. But New Orleans police have been working under stressful conditions since the hurricane.
Officers slept in their cars and worked 24-hour shifts after the storm. Three-quarters lost their homes and their families are scattered across the country.
"Our police officers are working under some very trying times," Defillo said. "So it's a difficult time, but it doesn't excuse what our jobs are supposed to be."
Many officers deserted their posts in the days after Katrina, and some were accused of joining in the looting that broke out. At least two committed suicide.
Conditions have improved - officers now have beds on a cruise ship - but they don't have private rooms and are still working five, 12-hour days.
Compass, the police superintendent, resigned Sept. 27. Despite more than 10 years of reform efforts dating to before he took office, police were dogged by allegations of brutality and corruption.
On Friday, state authorities said they were investigating allegations that New Orleans police broke into a dealership and made off with nearly 200 cars - including 41 new Cadillacs - as the storm closed in.
dont you know ? - when youre beaten - submit, do not protect your face and noggin and thank the officer when theyre done
This twisting and falling to the ground is clearly cause for resisting arrest
sarcasm
We'd save billions and the black folks that are stuck on the "plantation" in NO would find out what many others have, and that's the grass is greener in other places.
If one good thing comes from Katrina it will be the exposure of corruption of all levels of the NOLA government.
The cops and the local administration are run like a criminal organization and have been for decades. Bulldoze the Ninth Ward and make it a park or a nature preserve preventing its repopulation and the current band of thieves will die on the vine.
5 PO's to arrest one 64 YO drunk?
Why didnt he do what he was told in the first place? Here we go again with bad cops, good drunks. Maybe some of the deserter cops should have come back to handle this guy with the same soft touch they used to loot Walmart?
I bet the morale in the NOPD is really good now......not!
Bulldoze the place.
I've been having a tough time at work lately. Guess I'll beat the living crap out of someone.
Why didnt he do what he was told in the first place?
And that was?
Here we go again with bad cops, good drunks.
And really, really bad cameramen:
Meanwhile, a fifth officer ordered APTN producer Rich Matthews and the cameraman to stop recording. When Matthews held up his credentials and explained he was working, the officer grabbed the producer, leaned him backward over a car, jabbed him in the stomach and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade.
As far as I can see from the article there isn't anything that 64 year old man did to warrant that kind of abuse. Hope he sues the sh$t out of them.
Where was that cameraman and reporter when the cops were doint the mundane tasks that are required every day for those in public safety?
Rank and file members of the police dept and military have the same opinion of the media: slime. Its a position the left wing, military/cop hating media has happily placed itself and now we see the results. I only wonder why they didnt say the horse got away from them and trampled the reporter and especially his camera? I would have.
You would think that NO cops walking the Bourbon Street beat would better know how to handle the average street drunk.
Where was that cameraman and reporter when the cops were doint the mundane tasks that are required every day for those in public safety?
Filming outside of a bar on Bourbon Street, apparently.
I only wonder why they didnt say the horse got away from them and trampled the reporter and especially his camera? I would have.
NOLA PD has some vacancies, I hear.
Did Bush get blamed yet?
Looks like things are back to normal in New Orleans already!
"Police said Davis, 64, of New Orleans, was booked on public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation."
We're looking bad here so we'ed better charge this guy with something.
The advent of cheap digital video cameras have two sides. One is the ability of police to put large numbers of cameras everywhere for tracking speeding, running red lights, and everyone else walking or driving by. The other side is the large number of cameras in hand held computers and cell phones. Police are going to have to assume that everything they do is being recorded because whenever they pull someone over a half dozen people will pop open their cameras and film it all. They won't be able to chase and beat up every cameraman. Professional public servants won't have anything to fear. Thugs with badges will.
One thing I expect to see is police agencies asking for the ability to prevent recording. For example, require video camera makers to embed something in their cameras which prevent recording when a certain infrared signal is present, much as modern color copiers are able to detect that a person is trying to copy money and prevent it. Police will just be able to broadcast that IR signal whenever they are around.
<tinfoil hat on
Oh yes indeedy folks, let's rebuild this place, yes indeed and let's do it sooner than later.
</tinfoil hat off
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.