National

Group: Officers Who Beat Black Suspect Should Be Charged

Published

9 years ago

January 17, 2015

Ron Scott speaks at rally in front of the Grosse Pointe Park city offices in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015. The protesters want the prosecution of two officers videotaped during the beating of a suspected carjacker in a Detroit neighborhood. (AP Photo/Detroit News, David Coates)

Corey Williams, ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT (AP) — Protesters on Wednesday called for criminal charges to be brought against two police officers who appear to be white who were caught on video beating and kicking a black carjacking suspect during an arrest.

The video of Monday’s arrest, which was captured by a Detroit resident and posted on Facebook, shows the two officers taking turns kneeling forcefully on the back of the suspect, who was lying face-down on a snowy sidewalk, and beating and kicking him. They beat the 51-year-old suspect before and after he was handcuffed.

“It was despicable. It was horrible and it was barbaric, and it certainly was not professional,” Ron Scott, the director of The Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, which organized the small protest, told The Associated Press. “This was especially deplorable given the circumstances we are facing in the nation at this point with Michael Brown being shot and police brutality.”

The killings of Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City last summer touched off protests and a national debate over the treatment of black Americans by the police. Both Brown and Garner were black and unarmed, and the officers who killed them were white.

The officers involved in Monday’s arrest on Detroit’s northwest side, who appear in the video to be white, have not been publicly identified. They are members of an auto theft task force that includes police from Grosse Pointe Park, Harper Woods and Highland Park. They were tracking a vehicle carjacked earlier in the day, according to a Grosse Pointe Park police department news release.

“During the carjacking, the armed subject pointed a gun at a mother and her two children and ordered them out of the vehicle,” the department said. “He threatened to shoot them if they failed to comply.”

The officers followed the vehicle and chased the man a quarter-mile after he got out of the car in Detroit. According to police, the suspect resisted arrest and an attempt to subdue him with a stun gun failed because he was wearing heavy clothing.

“The subject continued to reach for the area of his waistband and refused all orders to show his hands,” the department said. “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 waistband was a loaded semi-automatic handgun.”

The news release doesn’t mention that the suspect was also beaten after he was handcuffed.

The task force presented a warrant Wednesday to the Wayne County prosecutor’s office asking it to press charges against the carjacking suspect.

The Associated Press isn’t naming him because he hadn’t been charged in the alleged carjacking as of late Wednesday afternoon. Chris Gautz, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said the man could be charged with violating parole for a 2004 armed robbery conviction. The man was released from prison in 2013 and hasn’t been in contact with parole officials since last April.

The state police will investigate the officers’ actions. The Associated Press left messages Wednesday with the Grosse Pointe Park police department and an attorney for the city of Highland Park to determine whether the two officers in the video will remain on duty during the state police investigation.

The Coalition for Justice and Fairness to Reform Law Enforcement, which counts the Detroit branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan among its members, issued a statement denouncing the beating.

“Certainly, police officers have the right to apprehend, secure, and protect themselves and the public from suspects involved in criminal activities,” the group said. “However, it is most disturbing to see an individual handcuffed on the ground while a police officer sits on his back, who after being apprehended, is still punched in the head and kicked by an officer on the scene.”
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

####

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

King Holiday Comes Amid a New Generation of Protests

Don't Miss

North Miami Police Use Faces of Black Men as Targets

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

16 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Issues Statement on Deaths of Humanitarian Aid Volunteers in Gaza 

On April 2, a day after an Israeli airstrike erroneously killed seven employees of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a humanitarian organization delivering aid in the Gaza Strip, a statement was release by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12). “This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.

Published

3 days ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee

By California Black Media

“This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.

The same day, it was confirmed by the organization that the humanitarian aid volunteers were killed in a strike carried out by Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Prior to the incident, members of the team had been travelling in two armored vehicles marked with the WCF logo and they had been coordinating their movements with the IDF. The group had successfully delivered 10 tons of humanitarian food in a deconflicted zone when its convoy was struck.

“This is not only an attack against WCK. This is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the direst situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said Erin Gore, chief executive officer of World Central Kitchen.

The seven victims included a U.S. citizen as well as others from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Palestine.

Lee has been a vocal advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza and has supported actions by President Joe Biden to airdrop humanitarian aid in the area.

“Far too many civilians have lost their lives as a result of Benjamin Netanyahu’s reprehensible military offensive. The U.S. must join with our allies and demand an immediate, permanent ceasefire – it’s long overdue,” Lee said.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Commentary

Commentary: Republican Votes Are Threatening American Democracy

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We needed to know the blunt truth. The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening. That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

By Emil Guillermo

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

We needed to know the blunt truth.

The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

And to save it will require all hands on deck.

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening.

That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

No man is above the law? To the majority of his supporters, it seems Trump is.

It’s an anti-democracy loyalty that has spread like a political virus.

No matter what he does, Trump’s their guy. Trump received 51% of caucus-goers votes to beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who garnered 21.2%, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who got 19.1%.

The Asian flash in the pan Vivek Ramaswamy finished way behind and dropped out. Perhaps to get in the VP line. Don’t count on it.

According to CNN’s entrance polls, when caucus-goers were asked if they were a part of the “MAGA movement,” nearly half — 46% — said yes. More revealing: “Do you think Biden legitimately won in 2020?”

Only 29% said “yes.”

That means an overwhelming 66% said “no,” thus showing the deep roots in Iowa of the “Big Lie,” the belief in a falsehood that Trump was a victim of election theft.

Even more revealing and posing a direct threat to our democracy was the question of whether Trump was fit for the presidency, even if convicted of a crime.

Sixty-five percent said “yes.”

Who says that about anyone of color indicted on 91 criminal felony counts?

Would a BIPOC executive found liable for business fraud in civil court be given a pass?

How about a BIPOC person found liable for sexual assault?

Iowans have debased the phrase, “no man is above the law.” It’s a mindset that would vote in an American dictatorship.

Compare Iowa with voters in Asia last weekend. Taiwan rejected threats from authoritarian Beijing and elected pro-democracy Taiwanese vice president Lai Ching-te as its new president.

Meanwhile, in our country, which supposedly knows a thing or two about democracy, the Iowa caucuses show how Americans feel about authoritarianism.

Some Americans actually like it even more than the Constitution allows.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1.