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.
Hell, I didn't mind it when he was just looking at it; it was when he came back with his dirty clothes that I got pissed.
It doesn't? Why do you think all cops are trained to do that with dangerous criminals and others that run from the cops in high speed pursuits?
If you have the bodies, they will all jump on the bad guy, just about every time. It's for their own safety. Believe it or not there are guys out there that are 5'10" 180 pounds that can clean the clock of 3 normal sized men. There are some *mean* people out there, and the cops don't know who's who.
This is not a game of one on one to prove how bad they are. Was he right pounding on him after he was down? I don't know, it doesn't look good, but I could not see the suspects hands the entire time.
I can tell you one thing, I wouldn't be a cop nowadays for no money.
You can like it, or not, but no Grand Jury will indict a cop who has to subdue a perp, video or no video.
He didn't pull his gun, did he? And he didn't appear to injure this punk too badly. I'd say it's a wash.
Yay. We were overdo for a riot.
After RK out here in LA, they will.
The guy was clearly out of control. The fact that he needed another officer to restrain him says it all. The only thing that will be a wash is his career which is probably good for the citizens of LA as well as the police force.
Nonsense.
Multiply this by the number of time the bust is not on camera. Cops deserve a "bad name."
You can like it, or not, but no Grand Jury will indict a cop who has to subdue a perp, video or no video.
The rule: use excessive force...
I am sure feeling better about the cops, now...
You and your jack-booted thugs should rot in hell, if this truly is what policing is all about! I feel sorry that you may have to deal with the dregs of society, but you do not have to BE one!
If the liberal judges would keep the drek off the streets, then these things wouldn't happen as much... but there is still never a good excuse for thuggery!
I saw the kick to the head too....I must say, when I saw the beating going on live in the a.m., I was quite surprised, as none of the other officers were doing so. Of course, we didn't hear what the perp was saying...he could have been threatening their lives, etc.; however, if that were the case, I would have expected to see more than one officer reacting as violently. The other officers appeared to be struggling with the perp...to keep him down or cuff him, but I do wonder how much of that could have been caused by the perp's reaction to trying to getting away from the officer who was hitting him???.
Roid rage.
steal a car, lead police on a wild car chase, get out and run from them - and get beaten
sounds fair to me.
Thanks. Please mark me down as one who thinks all car chase guys should be given a beating before being carted off to jail. Call it an education, call it humiliation, it needs to done.
Perhaps to you but not to clearer thinking people that will decide his fate
I watched this live on Fox & Friends...I saw the cop hit him a few times with his stick, I did NOT see a beating. Before everyone jumps all over the cops, just remember, the guy could have had a weapon, been resisting arrest...who knows?
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