Chad Holley: Houston Police Chief Says Videotape Of Officers Beating Teenager Made Him Sick

Chad Holley was beaten by Houston police officers in an incident captured on videotape, and now the city’s police chief in said seeing the incident made him “sick to my stomach.”

One of the officers, Drew Ryser, is on trial on a misdemeanor charge of official oppression. Police Chief Charles McLelland Jr. testified at the trial the he fired Ryser after the 32-year-old officer mistreated the teen during the arrest and ignored police protocol.

“It made me sick to my stomach because it was an egregious use of force and the men and women of the Houston police department are better than that… they did not deserve that type of black eye,” McClelland told special prosecutor Jonathan Munier.

Video from the March 2010 beating show then 15-year-old Chad Holley trying to jump over a police cruiser and falling to the ground. Five officers then descend on him, appearing to kick him in the head and body.

McLelland said the video showed Holley giving up and offering “no active resistance and the force that was being used against him was excessive and unnecessary.”

Police said that Holley had broken into a home with three others and was trying to escape.

Chad Holley’s beating created an outcry from community activists, who accused Houston’s police department of police brutality targeted against minorities.

Ryser’s attorneys have maintained that he followed the proper procedure during a chaotic situation. McLelland disagreed with that depiction of the scene, saying instead it was “challenging” and that officers failed to act properly.

The incident is one of several high-profile cases of police being accused of brutality. In California, Bakersfield activists have accused police of brutality in the beating death of David Sal Silva. The father of four was reportedly passed out drunk, and officers beat him upon responding to the scene. He later died at a hospital.

Silva’s beating was captured on cellphone video, and police are accused of erasing some of the video of the incident.

The Chad Holley trial is expected to last a week.