Posted on 07/08/2002 3:19:57 PM PDT by EggsAckley
Edited on 07/08/2002 3:29:06 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
The Associated Press Monday, July 8, 2002; 10:21 AM LOS ANGELES ?? An amateur video shows Inglewood police officers punching a teenager and slamming his head against the hood of a patrol car, and the department said it will investigate.
The probe was announced Sunday after the tape, taken a day earlier from a nearby motel, was turned over to police and local media.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Who's calling names?
Odd?
Who's calling names?
Tape Shows Police Officer Hitting Teen
By PAUL WILBORN
Associated Press Writer
July 8, 2002, 8:46 PM EDTINGLEWOOD, Calif. -- A police officer was suspended Monday after he was shown on a videotape slamming a handcuffed teenager onto the back of a car and striking him during an arrest.
"What occurred within the video is extremely disturbing to the Inglewood Police Department and to the administrators of the city," police Lt. Eve Irvine said.
Irvine said 16-year-old Donovan Jackson lunged at a sheriff's deputy and a physical altercation occurred before a bystander began taping the arrest at a gas station Saturday.
Joe Hopkins, an attorney for the Jackson family, said the teen was seated on the ground before officers began hitting him.
Images from the gas station's surveillance cameras will be viewed to determine what happened, Irvine said.
Inglewood Officer Jeremy Morse, a three-year veteran, was suspended with pay. Three other officers were at the gas station but were not relieved of duty.
Morse couldn't be reached for comment Monday. A request to Inglewood police to interview the officer was referred to the Inglewood Police Association. No officials with the association could be reached Monday.
The videotape, taken by a tourist from a motel across the street, shows the prone teenager hoisted to his feet by Morse and slammed onto the trunk of a police car.
The officer put a hand on the back of the teenager's neck, slugged him with his other hand and then appeared to choke him. Two officers appeared to intervene, with at least one trying to pull away the first officer's arm.
The Inglewood officers were assisting two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies who were investigating a car that had an expired vehicle registration. Driver Koby Chavis, 41, who is Jackson's father, was cited for driving with a suspended license.
Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Richard Myers said the teenage passenger became "combative" and was subdued with force and taken into custody. Jackson was booked for assault on a police officer.
The videotape showed a bloody gash over Morse's left ear. He also was cut on his elbow and knee, Irvine said.
According to Hopkins, the family's lawyer, the father and son pulled into the station to get gas and Jackson went to get potato chips. The deputies confronted the youth and ordered him against the car.
A deputy grabbed the youth by the neck before the city officers began to beat him, the attorney said.
"In that video the kid is essentially unconscious. He is out of it," Hopkins said.
"It was wrong," Jackson said at his attorney's Pasadena office. The youth, whose right eye was red and swollen, said nothing else.
The district attorney's spokeswoman, Sandi Gibbons, said it has begun an investigation to determine whether any crimes were committed by law enforcement.
I don't understand. Please explain this statement.
The kid was black.
I will lay money that not only has the kid never been to Africa, but the kid has probably never left the US.
I'm so sick and damn tired of being told I'm "African American" in order to satisfy Jesse Jackson's self worth. I was born in Indiana, I've never been to Africa, I've only left the US to go to Canada, I've never lived in Africa, I have no desire to live in Africa, and I enjoy living in Georgia. I'm not African American, I'm an American!
Damnit!
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
I do.
The kids family should have ample opportunity to return the beating to the cop......... with him in the handcuffs.
I didn't take it personally - I was making a point. I don't claim to be anyone's victim, one way or the other.
Me thinks thou protesteth a bit much.
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