Warning: This article contains explicit language and video footage of a violent beating.
POLICE IN THE city of Philadelphia today announced an internal investigation, after a video emerged of at least 12 officers beating, kicking and verbally abusing a black man.
The footage is unclear, but the officers involved may also have used a taser.
On 3 April, 22-year-old Tyree Carroll was stopped by police while riding a bike in the 14th District, in the north-western neighbourhood of Germantown.
The video only emerged last night, when social and political commentator Jasmyne Cannick uploaded it to YouTube, having been provided it by Carroll’s family.
She stated, on her blog, that Carroll was near the home he shared with his grandmother when he was stopped by police.
According to some witnesses and Carroll himself, he cooperated with police, and descended from his bike, before suddenly having his hands pulled behind his back and being physically overcome by several other officers.
The video begins with three police officers pinning Carroll to the ground while repeatedly punching, kicking, and beating him with nightsticks.
Two more officers arrive in a squad car, one of whom screams at Carroll:
I’ve got the fucking taser, here I come. You’re getting the fucking taser.
Another officer urges him to use it, shouting “Tase him, tase him – tase that motherfucker.”
The five officers then continue to kick and beat Carroll – including one who punches him repeatedly in the face, in rapid succession, while Carroll appears to call for his grandmother.
Two further police vehicles, each carrying two officers, then arrive, as shouts of “tase him” continue.
One voice can be heard shouting “On your back, motherfucker” and what appears to be the same voice says:
I don’t have the fucking energy to do this, Jesus fucking Christ.
At one point, Carroll bit one of the many officers engaged in arresting him.
He told Cannick “his reflex kicked in” after he panicked when he had trouble breathing due to the chokehold he was in, and later apologised for it.
An officer can be heard screaming “You fucking bit me, you piece of shit”, after which another appears to intervene, saying “Stop, stop.”
The end result of this arrest was, according to the Philadelphia police department, the seizure of 5.3 grammes of crack cocaine.
In a statement sent to Newsweek today, the department announced an internal investigation into the arrest:
Once the department was made aware of this video, the Internal Affairs Bureau was immediately notified and provided the YouTube video link.
An investigation into this matter is currently underway to determine all of the facts surrounding the incident as well as to identify all of the officers depicted in the video.
Police also presented a somewhat different account of the arrest from that presented by Carroll and some witnesses.
As the officers stopped the defendant, he began to fight with the officers, biting one of the officers a total of three times (thigh, hand and arm).The defendant also bit another officer on the forearm during this arrest.
The department also claimed that, despite threats, “at this time there is no indication that an electronic control weapon [taser] was used.”
The entire incident will be reviewed for any departmental violations that may have occurred during the incident.
Police also stated that Carroll was taken to hospital “after intentionally striking his own head against the protective shield located in the police vehicle.”
The head of Philadelphia’s police union, John McNesby, has already provoked anger by calling the incident “good policing.”
He’s fighting. He’s waving his arms. He’s biting the police officer at least twice. This is good policing.
Their sole job in that moment was to police narcotics. You’re allowed to use force at times.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say