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Kola
Moderator
Username: Kola
Post Number: 2122
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 10, 2005 - 07:06 am: | 
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New Orleans beating caught on tape
October 10, 2005
BY MARY FOSTER
NEW ORLEANS -- Two New Orleans police officers repeatedly punched a 64-year-old man accused of public intoxication, and another city officer assaulted a TV producer as a cameraman taped the confrontations.
There will be a criminal investigation, and the three officers were to be suspended, arrested and charged with simple battery Sunday, Capt. Marlon Defillo said.
''We have great concern with what we saw this morning,'' Defillo said after he watched the Associated Press Television Network footage Sunday. ''It's a troubling tape, no doubt about it."
Plagued by brutality charges
The assaults come as the department, long plagued by allegations of brutality, struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the resignation of Police Supt. Eddie Compass.
The 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, 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 producer Rich Matthews and the cameraman to stop recording. When Matthews held up his credentials, the officer grabbed the producer, leaned him over a car, jabbed him and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade.
''I've been here for six weeks trying to keep ... alive. ... Go home!'' shouted the officer.
Police said Davis, 64, of New Orleans, was booked on public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation. A mug shot showed him with his right eye swollen shut, an apparent scrape on his neck and a cut on his 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.''
Three of the five officers are New Orleans officers, and two others appeared to be federal officers.
'Very trying times'
Under normal circumstances, it takes unusually offensive behavior to trigger an arrest on Bourbon Street.
But police have been working under stressful conditions since the hurricane. Officers worked 24-hour shifts and three-quarters lost their homes.
''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.''
AP
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Roxie
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Roxie
Post Number: 222
Registered: 06-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 10, 2005 - 08:37 pm: |
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I heard about this....
Ive always known that Orleans Cops were no good and the first thing that entered my mind during Katrina was the conduct of those crooked cops.
They can make all the excuses they want, they are what they are. |
zairesais
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 12:23 am: |
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caught with their pants down. |
Renata
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 112
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 03:20 pm: |
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I love the police's excuse that the guy was drunk. I've been to New Orleans plenty of times, and I know for a fact that the only way he could have stood out in the French Quarters' crowd is if he were sober. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 1519
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 03:54 pm: |
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I heard the guy on tv. He's a retired school teacher. His English is good enough to pass the judgement of Rustang, Nels and Cynique.
He says he hasn't had a drink in 25 years.
Put this with what Alphonso Jackson said about New Orleans not being as black as it was and you got a police force I'll bet has been told to run black people out of town. |
Kola
Moderator
Username: Kola
Post Number: 2133
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 05:02 pm: |
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I totally agree Chris.
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Africanqueen
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Africanqueen
Post Number: 252
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 11:42 pm: |
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I feel bad for the poor old man, how disrespectful of those cops.
Maybe Katrina really showed their lack of good working characters. Katrina was a sign for how irresponsible these cops can be. |
Rustang
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Rustang
Post Number: 166
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 05:57 pm: |
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Damn, Chris.I offer you an olive branch and you say something like that about me.Just look at you, hatin' on me like that. I suppose I will choose to take that as a left-handed, clumsey attempt at complimenting me on my immpeccable grammar. |
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