Four officers will be fired, other four disciplined and a
supervising sergeant demoted in a case of videotaped beating, Philadelphia’s police commissioner said
Monday.
The decision was taken, Commissioner Charles Ramsey said,
after a detailed review of the videotape.
On May 5, a television news helicopter filmed 19 police
officers who cruelly beat three African-American men they had caught after a
shooting. The tape shows images of the officers kicking, punching and striking
the suspects with batons, as they were lying on the ground.
Both Commissioner Ramsey and Philadelphia’s mayor considered the beatings
inexcusable, but said race was not a reason that fueled them. Ramsey added that
at least one of the officers involved in the beating was African-American.
The three suspects were identified by the police as Dwayne
Dyches, 24; Brian Hall, 23; and Pete Hopkins, 19. They were believed to have
been involved in a shooting at a street corner.
Of the 19 officers on the scene, only eight had physical
contact with the suspects. Ramsey said two of the officers being fired are new
to the force and can be immediately terminated, while two others are to be
suspended without pay for 30 days with intent to dismiss.
Three other officers are being suspended and the supervising
agent demoted for not having taken measures against his colleagues’ abusive
treatment.
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