http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/09/tap....ap/index.html
Police charged with battery in New Orleans
3 arrested after subduing 64-year-old, confronting camera crew
Monday, October 10, 2005; Posted: 8:45 a.m. EDT (12:45 GMT)
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Three police officers in New Orleans were charged with battery Sunday after an incident in which two repeatedly struck a 64-year-old man accused of public intoxication as another officer confronted a TV producer.
A cameraman taped the confrontations.
The three officers were suspended without pay, then released and ordered to appear in court at a later date, Capt. Marlon Defillo said.
"We have great concern with what we saw this morning," Defillo said after he and about a dozen other high-ranking police department officials watched the Associated Press Television News footage Sunday. "It's a troubling tape, no doubt about it. ... This department will take immediate action." (Watch violent arrest. View discretion advised -- 2:14)
The charges come as the department, long plagued by allegations of brutality and corruption, struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the resignation last month of Police Superintendent Eddie Compass.
The APTN tape shows an officer hitting the man at least four times in the head Saturday night as he stood outside a bar near Bourbon Street. The suspect, Robert Davis, appeared to resist, twisting and flailing as he was dragged to the ground by four officers. Another of the four officers then kneed Davis and punched him twice. Davis was face-down on the sidewalk with blood streaming down his arm and into the gutter.
Meanwhile, a fifth officer ordered APTN producer Rich Matthews and the cameraman to stop recording. When Matthews held up his credentials and explained he was working, the officer grabbed the producer, leaned him backward over a car, jabbed him in the stomach and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade.
"I've been here for six weeks trying to keep ... alive. ... Go home!" shouted the officer, who later identified himself as S.M. Smith.
Defillo identified the patrolmen as Stuart Smith, Lance Schilling and Robert Evangelist. Smith is an eight-year veteran of the department, and the other officers have each been on the force for three years, he said.
Police said Davis, 64, of New Orleans, was booked on public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation. He was treated at a hospital and released into police custody.
A mug shot of Davis, provided by a jailer, showed him with his right eye swollen shut, an apparent abrasion on the left side of his neck and a cut on his right temple.
"The incidents taped by our cameraman are extremely troubling," said Mike Silverman, AP's managing editor. "We are heartened that the police department is taking them seriously and promising a thorough investigation."
Davis, who is black, was subdued at the intersection of Conti and Bourbon streets. Three of the officers appeared to be white, and the other is light skinned. The officer who hit Matthews is white. Defillo said race was not an issue.
Three of the five officers -- including Smith -- are New Orleans officers, and two others appeared to be federal officers. Numerous agencies have sent police to help with patrols in the aftermath of Katrina.
Under normal cir stances, it takes unusually offensive behavior to trigger an arrest on Bourbon Street. But New Orleans police have been working under stressful conditions since the hurricane.
Officers slept in their cars and worked 24-hour shifts after the storm. Three-quarters lost their homes and their families are scattered across the country.
"Our police officers are working under some very trying times," Defillo said. "So it's a difficult time, but it doesn't excuse what our jobs are supposed to be."
Many officers deserted their posts in the days after Katrina, and some were accused of joining in the looting that broke out. At least two committed suicide.
Conditions have improved -- officers now have beds on a cruise ship -- but they don't have private rooms and are still working five, 12-hour days a week.
Compass, the police superintendent, resigned September 27. Despite more than 10 years of reform efforts dating to before he took office, police were dogged by allegations of brutality and corruption.
On Friday, state authorities said they were investigating allegations that New Orleans police broke into a dealership and made off with nearly 200 cars -- including 41 new Cadillacs -- as the storm closed in.
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anyone see this story and the video??
the video was nasty.
sad to say I saw it during breakfast... I may not be albe to eat agin untill lunch.
I saw the video this morn... and it doesn't show what the drunk guy did before the cops were beating him. I dont know if what the drunk guy did was enough for them to beat him like that, but, , I know those cops aren't taking any type of right now....
Why must you guys always show a Black man getting a beat down? You all get off to that don't you? Show some footage of some cracker getting his ass kicked once and awhile, If i wanted to see a black man getting beat ? I would go rent Roots.
Mouse, I think I saw your girl on the net earlier....
http://www.killsometime.com/Video/video.asp?ID=244
Yeah, those three or four cops needed to use that force on a 64 YEAR OLD MAN.
He could have scratched them to death or something.
I wonder what that AP guy did to be slammed againts a car and held by throat.
Oh, he didn't want to leave.
er should have had his legs broken.
i've seen drunk dudes do some pretty ty stuff. and I've seen them egging cops on.
I can just imagine how that'd go down in NO.. since these guys have been on the job for weeks straight thru a national emergency and have lost everythign they have.
but cops are still people too and they up. to me this is a huge up.
They needed to subdue him.. not donate his blood to the sidewalk.
It reminds me of a story i saw a few weks back about phsycological services available for the 1st responders and the ongoing law enforcement personel..... how there isn;t much and they are not getting what they need and are working wwaaaaaaay toooo much.
I wonder if there is some kind of "exchange a cop" program in place on a local state or national level that NO could take advantage of..... kinda like there is for firefighters and EMT's.
A 64 year old man on some coke can you up....
Not saying he was, but like I said we dont know what happened before the camera was shooting.....
A 64 year old man will you up if he is on coke?
Yeah, if your a 12 year old girl and he has a bat.
Give me a break, it didn't take 4 guys to beat the ever loving crap out of him in order to "arrest" him.
And explain the AP guy who did nothing but "not leave the scene" and was pushed in a car and then held there by the throat.
The AP guy probally told the cop something...Ok have the drunk 64 year old in front of your business, driving away bussiness, and then go outside and tellthe cops to give him a break.....
It pisses me off that the only time a cop will make the news is when he supposably does something wrong, and people like Buddy Holly jump all over it..... Dont let the media make your opinion of the world for you.... For this story Im sure there are about 5 other stories of heroism of cops that happend just last night in the country but this one makes the nat'l news....
Great reason to abuse them.
That's because its something they're not supposed to be doing. If the only time police officers (for someone defending them you should know police officers hate being called cops) made the news was when they did something right, they'd be the only thing the news showed. It's unusal when the police screw up, and when they do, they brought out on it, esp in this case when video captures what went down.It pisses me off that the only time a cop will make the news is when he supposably does something wrong
Did you see the video, unless the 64 year old man was Superman, there's no reason to have him handcuffed and against a wall punching him senselessly.
Lets be real about this, these police officers were at a boiling point, and they were triggered. They took out all the rage they built up on a guy who is 64 years old.
I saw the video, and there is NOTHING!! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! he could have done to merit that kind of a beating!! Policemen are supposed to use only enough force to subdue, NOT PUNISH! The way that cop was beating on that old man was barbaric! He should be fired, if not imprisoned! PERIOD!
But he... he... said shut up.
These cops need some slack cut. They've had a ish job and they've stayed on their job when half of their coworkers have run away holding their nuts. I haven't seen the video very well - I just got a glance at it - but videos don't always tell the whole story.
Well, the video does tell the whole story, unless Robert Davis had a knife he was trying to stab the policemen with while they had him against the wall, I see no reason to punch the guy repeatedly in the head. Then put him on the floor and kick him.
Have you seen the footage taken from the balconey? He's face down on the ground in a large puddle of his own blood.
All for being "drunk" in ing downtown New Orleans, the French QT, and for what, not putting his hands behind his back fast enough?
For anyone who still thinks that beating was justified, check out the videos in this CNN article!
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/10/ta....ap/index.html
I haven't seen the beating video in its entirety and I'm sure as not going to base my opinions on your observations, Buddy.
Either way, like I said the stress these cops have been under has contributed to this without a doubt and they need to be cut some slack.
Don't, but unlike you, I've seen the footage, from two different angles.
Not to mention the extra footage of a AP journalist being thrown up against a car and held at the throat.
So has the EMS the Doctors, The garbage men, etc......do they get a free pass to beat on the first nigro they see?
If all they can do is use drunk 60 year old men as punching bags? then they are better off not being there, As for the ones who stayed? let me get my Violyn, That's their Job, if they don't like it they should have went to Barber collage, They make good money, and how come the other officers did not join in on the beating?and they've stayed on their job when half of their coworkers have run away holding their nuts.
Well I have,I haven't seen the video very well -
well you need a VCR and that way you can slow it down and count the punch's to the head, bring a caculator,I just got a glance at it
-but videos don't always tell the whole story.
They don't but I do heres the clip notes.
Black drunk man drunk out of his black drunk mind walks the streets of N.O.
Cop comes by and and says "you black bas ! your drunk out of your Black bas mind" Now turn around and let me beat your head about 50 times since I have alot of stress and since folks like Manny say it's ok to get rid of my stress on the first drunk black asshole I see,"
Drunk staggering black man drunk out of his black drunk mind says "Suck my " Two cops bring his drunk black ass down , then they put cuffs on his drunk black ass, cop # 3 stands him up and starts to beat his black drunk head,
Punch #1 Cop forgets he is a cop
Punch #2 Cop has lots of stress
Punch #3 Cop hates ######s
Punch #4 Cop is starting to like this
Punch #5 Cop can't figure out why drunk Nigro is still on his feet.
Punch #6 Cop begins with reason #1
Punch #7 Cop in in a grove now and is getting his second wind,
Punch #8 thru #20 Cop forgets there is a news crew filming every punch
Punch #20 thru 50 are done back at the station where TV crew can't film.
Did I miss any punches? sorry but sometimes Video does not show the whole story. there could have been a kick in there somewhere also.
Manny, I posted the article with the links to the videos. Watch them, and then base your opinions on that
Do they show the entire thing happening with whatever the man did - if anything - to draw the cops attention?
Mouse, you're being an idiot. But whats new, right?
are you serious??? WHAT THE DOES IT MATTER WHAT HE DID!?? At the time of the video, the man was being held by four men, don't you think they could have subdued him without bashing his face in??? Come on Manny!
Oh, and the guy did not have a weapon
It looks like he was being a bit incooperative with the arrest while they tried to restrain him, but I didn't really see anything that warranted punching him in the face repeatedly.
I'm just glad the good people of New Orleans were protected from the danger of a doped-up cokehead roaming the streets.
Manny just say you hate ######s so we don't waste our time trying to teach you law.
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