…says the Philadelphia police commisioner.

POLICE COMMISSIONER Charles H. Ramsey yesterday asked Philadelphians not “to rush to judgment” when watching a video showing baton-wielding cops repeatedly striking, kicking and stomping three young men whom they had stopped after a triple shooting in Hunting Park.

“On the surface, it certainly does not look good in terms of the amount of force that was used,” Ramsey said during a news conference with Mayor Nutter at police headquarters.

Ramsey said that an Internal Affairs investigation is under way. He expressed concern for the mental well-being of the entire force, which is still reeling in the wake of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski’s slaying last weekend…

“The video is the video,” Mayor Nutter said. “We have no audio. You don’t know what was going on at that moment when the officers approached the vehicle. There will be an investigation and we will move on.”

Does wearing a badge permit you to be a vigilante?




  1. morram says:

    What’s with the blasting retard background music? Is it coming from the guy’s car stereo? If so the cops should of beat him some more.

  2. bobbo says:

    Lack of standards, therefore insufficient/bad training and lack of management enforcement.

    “Who you going to believe–your lying eyes, or the “everything done was within Department Guidelines” review that will be issued?”

  3. Janky-o says:

    I’m sure this was just a few bad apples. And I’m sure they didn’t actually do anything wrong.

  4. Cinaedh says:

    “Does wearing a badge permit you to be a vigilante?”

    Absofuckinglutely…

    …as long as there aren’t any functioning video cameras in the immediate vicinity.

  5. The Warden says:

    I wonder if the cops said to all three, “Rodney King had it good compared to what we are going to do to you!”

    All bad jokes aside, I am surprised there were NO black cops there. Are there no black cops on the Philly police squad other than the Commish?

    Surely looks excessive to me unless they were practicing for the annual Police Soccer tourney taking place at the end of the month.

    Or maybe the three are in cahoots with the cops who get subpar pay and all will share the multi million dollar settlement the city will award the three?

  6. Geoffrey says:

    Is the lesson here that, by the example set by these police, if a citizen happens to be killed by a government worker, would it be correct behavior for the citizens to kick in the ribs and stomp the faces of any government workers they are able to get their hands on?

    Should street justice prevail in the style demonstrated by these government workers?

    That’s a very poor example set by these “finest” of how to behave within a society toward the other members of a society. Live by the sword?

  7. Improbus says:

    “There will be an investigation and we will move on.”

    Let me translate that, “We will white wash this incident and nothing will happen to the police involved.”

  8. RBG says:

    Does wearing a badge permit you to be a vigilante?

    Is that something like a public lynching without a trial?

    RBG

  9. Breetai says:

    WOW! I’m usually on the side of the cops but the way they were kicking the guy’s who were on the ground made em look like a bunch of gang bangers.

  10. KickMe says:

    It’s OK, they were wearing Kick Me t-shirts,
    pulled over for nothing and your kicks are free

  11. jescott418 says:

    I think we need to put ourselves in their shoes. Violence in big cities is out of control. Police are fed up with justice not being served. I believe police are taking matters into their own hands. Right or wrong society is not properly addressing intercity violence. You have generation after generation living in gangs and thinking this is the way to live. You have a social problem when parents of kids who carry guns get more upset about police roughing up their child with a gun then with the fact he had a gun in the first place. The media looks at these acts with visions of great ratings booster. They do not do good journalism and get the facts first.

  12. Mac Guy says:

    Jesus christ, speaking of people jumping the gun, half this forum has already convicted these officers before any facts have come out of the case.

    I guarantee that none of you were there with your own eyes and ears, and I guarantee that none of you saw the entire tape.

    You don’t know what was said, nor do you have all of the facts. Use your fucking brains before crucifying these men.

  13. The Pirate says:

    Cowboy cops letting their frustrations out. No attempt to subdue. All of them should be fired and brought up on assault charges. What would be the point of letting them remain on the force? All respect is gone – permanently if they remain.

    On another note, where were the tazers? In that melee you would have had cops tazering each other, which if had happened would have been hilarious.

  14. Bob says:

    Mac Guy, give it up, these forums have long been part of the “blame the police first” crowd. And when a few people do something that is wrong, they will use it to paint all police as gun wielding vigilantes, never once giving any thought to what society would be like without the police they love to condem.

  15. RBG says:

    12. Mac Guy. Unbelieveable as it may sound, there is a certain segment of our population who desperately wants to see police beat up on citizens. They’re called cop-haters.

    RBG

  16. supraman says:

    I watch COPS all the time and if someone is resisting sometimes it takes like 5 cops to take down one guy and they have to beat the hell outta him to get him to stop resisting and get the cuffs on him so this doesn’t look excessive to me. Since there was a chase involved I’m guessing that these guys weren’t going to go without a fight.

  17. Tootsie says:

    Definitely exessive force. Not defending the actions of those who used it. As police, they need to be above this.

    There is something systemically very wrong with a police force when this kind of thing happens. (lack of training, under-staffing, stress of being out-weaponed on the street, lower stadards, management who looks the other way when behaviour like this builds up, etc)

    Why the F would the news take this footage to the people of that neighbourhood? Riling people up does not make good news, it only begets more violence.

    This is only going to get worse. 🙁

  18. Smartalix says:

    We should be more careful of who we choose to police us. Our law enforcement passed from “protecting and serving” to occupation a long time ago.

  19. Erik Blazynski says:

    LOL, “cautioning against a rush to judgement” what a friggin joke. Don’t believe what you see people.

  20. Mobeus says:

    I’d say that on any police force, you’ll find that the majority tend to be borderline psychopaths, sickos who chose policework because they like to wield power over others and gain great pleasure and satisfaction in inflicting pain and suffering…both psychological and physical.
    These days, a good many police candidates were in the military in Iraq where they committed an assortment of bestial acts on the Iraqi population, then return to the States where they make a bee-line for the various police departments and are welcomed with open arms.
    These sick creeps love bashing and kicking people; they can’t get enough of it.

  21. MikeN says:

    I wouldn’t want a rush to judgment either. I still remember how they showed video of Rodney King getting beaten up, and it turned out it was only part of the tape, and the cops were justified.

  22. These cops definately need their day in court.

  23. Chucklehead says:

    Emotion is probably running a little high with the Philadelphia police force right now. An officer was shot and killed by some rifle wielding thugs last weekend and one of said thugs is still at large.

  24. pat says:

    Why were they running from the police? No excuse of course but, what crime did those guys just commit?

  25. rich says:

    In Philadelphia, “excessive force” is anything short of the police dropping a bomb on the roof of your row home. Oh, wait, I think (former) mayor Goode and police commissioner Sambor justified that, too.

  26. eyeofthetiger says:

    From the video this felony car stop was done completely wrong. The three in the vehicle were suspects in a triple shooting! By pulling out and jumping around on the suspect turned the situation into complete chaos. Chaos is not good when some doped-up gang banger is inside a vehicle (with what one would have to assume) fully automatic pee shooter. Ghetto millionaires. Maybe their victims will so them for some of the govn’t cheese.

  27. Chucklehead says:

    #13: Philadelphia cops don’t have tasers.

    #14: The people running from the police had just been involved in a triple shooting. The thing is the actual shooter ran away from the car before the remaining three guys were stopped. Don’t know if any other weapons were found on them.

  28. Chucklehead says:

    #13: Philadelphia cops don’t have tasers.

    #24: The people running from the police had just been involved in a triple shooting. The thing is the actual shooter ran away from the car before the remaining three guys were stopped. Don’t know if any other weapons were found on them.

  29. pat says:

    #27 – Thanks for the data.

  30. gregallen says:

    My oh my. The cops look more vicious than the police dog.

    Now the “authority conservatives” are going to tell us that we don’t see what we see.


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