New Orleans Police Beating Caught on Tape

Bellsouth.com ^ | 10/09/2005 | AP

[pitinkie]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - At least one police officer repeatedly punched a 64-year-old man accused of public intoxication, and another officer assaulted an Associated Press Television News producer as a cameraman taped the confrontations.

There will be a criminal investigation, and three New Orleans Police Department officers will be suspended Sunday, arrested and charged with simple battery, 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.

The APTN tape shows an officer hitting the man at least four times in the head Saturday night as he stood outside a bar. The suspect, Robert Davis, appeared to resist, twisting and flailing as he was dragged to the ground by four officers. Another officer 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, an 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.

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 was light skinned. Defillo said race was not an issue.

Three of the five officers involved were 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.

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.

[spunkets]

"The police officers involved are innocent until proven guilty..."

So's uncle binney.

For your info Rodney King wasn't an old man, mounted a high speed, 100+MPH chase, got out of the car and attacked the officers. His buddies with him just sat there. King deserved the extra whacks.

What was the old guy doing, singing? How come the old guy isn't innocent until proven guilty? Why does he get a beating. You do realize that head locks and punching folks that are being held down are illegal right?

What do you think the media guy did to set off the fat guy with the badge? Maybe he had a lisp and the fat guy couldn't stand that.

[eleni121]

your (sic) a New York Republican.
tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
Yeah baby...A conservative Republican working tirelessly to get rid of Hillary and Schumer.

Your page says loads: a libertarian dystopian.

I should have known. Living in la la land.

[eleni121]

What was the old guy doing, singing?
ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

I don't know and neither do you Mr. know it all.

Old man yeah...took how many officers to keep him down. old man take speed too. He looks pretty hefty too. You know how many "old men" have shot cops to death?

Give me a break jake...take your whining against the cops elsewhere.

[spunkets]

"take your whining against the cops elsewhere...Give me a break jake."

You don't deserve it.

[eleni121]

You don't deserve it.
_______________________________________________
Dream on.

I'm on the cops side...proudly. You're on something else and judging from your postings it's not legal.

[sagar]

Have you seen the video? From what I saw, it was just brutal. First they nailed him to a wall. All fine, but then they start hitting him UFC style. The guy was on the floor and blood all over the sidewalk. Not something you would expect from cops.

[TheBattman]

I did see some of the video this AM on FoxNews - One officer did get stupid with a person identifying himself as the press (showed ID).

As far as the perp being arrested and beaten. IT appears that the hitting and such stopped once the perp was under control. He WAS resisting.

[af_vet_rr]

Maybe you want to live in a country where cops can smack reporters around. I suggest Mexico, Guatamala, Syria, or Iran. Cops there can do that sort of thing and get away with it.

I must have missed a memo or something because I don't remember a policy change saying it was ok for cops to assault and batter reporters all of a sudden because it's a 'conservative' ideal.

You left out China, Cuba, Sudan, and a whole lot of other countries.

It's not a 'conservative' ideal to beat up reporters - that's more of a totalitarian ideal, if anything, judging by the countries where it's a common practice.

I think it boils down to this...some will see this as a vindication not to trust any cop, which is not fair to the good cops. Some will see this and think that everybody who criticizes these cops are actually criticizing all cops, when that is not the case. These two groups of people will go at it, and drag others into it as well.

I even made a comment that could be taken as a criticism of all cops, when I said something like "the government likes to videotape you all over the place, but they don't like it when the cameras are turned on them", when really, one of these cops saw the reporters and realized that the videotaping could get them in hot water.

I'm surprised he didn't go further and try to take the tape. That actually happened during the flooding - some of the cops caught on tape looting tried to get the video.

[Bear_Slayer]

You weren't there;

So what?

I was there

So what?

The crowd approved of the apprehension.

Your original post said the crowd cheered the beating, not the aprehension. We are on dangerous ground when an alledged criminal is beat by authority, before he has been judged by the courts.

Snapshots in time so don't lecture about dangerous grounds.

What? I wasn't lecturing. I was pointing out that we are on dangerous grounds when authority beats an unjudged person and the crowd cheers. Didn't stuff like that happen in Nazi Germany?

[hattend]

I saw the video on CNN. I would have resisted as well if I was getting the crap beat out of me. Did you notice when the cop hit the guy, the punch drove his head into the wall? The cop got a two-fer for every punch.

The guy may have been drunk and resisting but there was no cause for the beating he got. Taser him, cuff him and cart him off to jail.

I hope he gets a great lawyer and I hope he owns the state before he recovers.

[pitinkie]

Yeah when I saw the whole thing I was astounded..on another note...my Jags won!!!

[hattend]

So did my Broncos.

[pitinkie]

Good for you...kicked our butt last week. I love going to an ESPN game!

[CodeToad]

For those that think a cop's job is to beat drunks, I hope like Hell they get the Hell beat out of them next time they are caught speeding. No ticket, just the Hell beat out of them. If they don't like busted lips and ribs, then they shouldn't speed.

[CodeToad]

"The article says he was ordered to leave.

I guess he should have left. "


Not a lawful order if the guy was across the street as he was. The reporter was not impeding the officers ability to beat the drunk.

[CodeToad]

"I don't condone brutality or corruption either. "


You just Clintonise it as "anything a cops does or orders isn't brutality or corruption".

[dfwgator]

I hope he gets a great lawyer and I hope he owns the state before he recovers.

I wonder if the lefties will pin this on Mayor Nagin, like they pinned on Giuliani the Diallo case?

[Cap'n Crunch]

Well, I think the fued will be back on.

First let me apologize for coming back late but I don't get on here much anymore.

I saw the video, or what they released. I don't see anything in the video that I saw that those cops should have been arrested.

What I saw is a police officer who doesn't have any technique.

I'll make my point. When the gent was taken to the ground it clearly looks to me that he is still resisting arrest. Some of the officers look like they may have a little bit of technique but for the most part it looks like they are just trying to muscle the guy.

If there had been no punches thrown I'm betting that the officers would not have been charged at all.

We were kicking this around (kicking it around.. ) at the station with one of our Captains and our Lt. who works on our policy and proceedures.

The Captain didn't think it was right BUT didn't think the officers should be arrested. Especially when it was not known what all happened leading up to the arrest.

The Lt. said that in Graham V. Connor (?) in a nut shell it is not considered taboo for officers to use that type of force to effect an arrest.

So, it seems to me that this was a knee jerk reaction by the higher ups under the usual pressure from the media and the politically correct crowd.

I say the officers walk, no problem.

But you guys are still invited for beer and pizza.

[Fierce Allegiance]

I know a cop has to do what a cop has to do, but did the clip you saw show the 4 fast elbow-high shots to the old guys head? That cannot be initial arrest technique, is it? Doesn't a perp have a right to protect his head when a cop is whaling the shit out of him?

Not to be a dick, but unless the cops were complete mall-security washout pussies, why couldn't they take this rather small old guy down better? I've taken down fishermen who outweighed me considerably with just a b-light (and a DEA dude with a weapon drawn) and didn't need to resort to spleen kicks and and punches to the head.

Also, what about hassling the guy doing his job, the reporter? OK, maybe the cop shouldn't get arrested for that, but iwt was wrong, and it should go on his "permanent record".

[Cap'n Crunch]

Well, I stopped punching people after the first time I went to the hospital and thought my hand was broke. Thankfully it wasn't but it was sure swelled up and I couldn't use it for quite awhile. But, under our policy we are permitted to punch.

So I started going to judo. Much better. No fuss, no muss, no "film at 11."

So, punching the old guy in the head is alot like french kissing your grandma. Ugly.. but...

And, who knows what happened before the cameras started rolling.

I know this one will go over well. Perhaps... Perhaps these guys have been under alot of pressure for awhile down there, maybe working alot of overtime, lost their house, etc.

Then again maybe not. But those are things I'd consider before a knee jerk arrest and firing.

But, that's just me.