Police Brutality Video: Officers Cuff And Beat Armed Carjacking Suspect
Talk of police brutality has been in the news a lot lately, with the Eric Garner and Michael Brown cases raging through much of the country, and now officers near Detroit may be answering charges.
An armed carjacking suspect who was cuffed, then beaten, by police is now at the center of the police brutality investigation.
In the video, which went viral on Facebook on Tuesday, the officers can be seen kicking and punching the suspect who lays on the ground and at one point calls for Jesus.
To this, one of the attacking police officers can be heard, saying the following
“What did you say? Jesus? Are you calling Jesus? Don’t you dare! Don’t you [expletive] dare!”
At one point in the video of the man beaten by police, the officers can be seen doing a fist bump while another says it was a “justified a** whoopin.'”
During the altercation, a woman pulled out her cellphone and began to record because she says she was disturbed by the defenseless nature of the suspect, who is accused of pulling a gun on a mother and her children, ordering them out of the car, and threatening to shoot them.
“It was just wrong. Outright wrong,” said the videographer, who wished to remain anonymous.
“Cuffed. Can’t defend and bound, and on the ground. There was no purpose, from my point of view, for them to do what they did.”
The officers were part of a multi-jurisdictional task force that involved Detroit, Grosse Pointe, and Highland Park police departments.
Detroit confirmed that none of their men were involved in the beating and that the officers that attacked were of the Grosse Pointe and Highland Park departments.
http://youtu.be/ATe5C18l1PY
At present, law enforcement has not admitted any wrongdoing, but did release this statement to MyFoxDetroit.
“The subject continued to reach for the area of his waist band and refused all orders to show his hands. He curled up in a ball and his right hand again went under his clothing. Fearing for their safety and those in the immediate area, an officer delivered a kick to the thigh area of the subject thus allowing the other officers the ability to arrest the subject. Located in his waist band was a loaded semi-automatic handgun.”
Still, for the woman who shot the cellphone video, there was no excuse.
“Arrest the guy, cuff him, take him to jail, simple as that. Point blank, as simple as that. All of that brutality is not necssary. They should be reprimanded. They should lose their jobs.”
The carjacking suspect was said to be on parole and admitted to stealing the car to “get drugs.”
Mayor Mike Duggan asked Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to review the incident. Worthy has asked Michigan State Police to conduct an independent investigation.
But what do you think, readers? Were the police justified in using this level of force on the carjacking suspect or was this, in fact, police brutality?
