Police Brutality: Grand Jury Clears Philly Cops In Video Beatings

Police Brutality: Philadelphia police officers involved in the videotaped beating of three suspects after a car chase won't be charged with crimes, according to a grand jury that found no excessive use of force.

Officers considered the shooting suspects armed and dangerous, and in keeping with department policy did not beat or kick them once they were handcuffed, she said.

"We found that the design of the force applied by the police was helpful rather than hurtful; the kicks and blows, in other words, were aimed not to inflict injury but to facilitate quick and safe arrests," the grand jury said in the report, which followed a 14-month investigation.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey fired four officers and disciplined four others after analyzing tape of the arrest, which he said gave the department "a black eye." Ramsey stood by that decision Thursday, while the police union vowed a fight to overturn it.

The aerial footage shows a swarm of officers descending on the car after a 2 1/2-mile chase, then smashing a window and pulling the men out to beat and kick them, in at least one case with a police baton.

The suspects — Pete Hopkins, Dwayne Dyches and Brian Hall — have since been acquitted of the triple shooting earlier that night for which they were being pursued.

All three suspects are black, but so are the majority of the 23 people on the grand jury, Abraham said. Most of the 18 city police on the scene were white.

"It's important not to form conclusions based on a mere film, without context," Abraham said. "We think that good people will understand what police did and why."

Critics suggest that police closing in on the suspects' car thought it contained a fugitive sought in that week's slaying of a police sergeant.

The grand jury report could bolster the fired officers' efforts to return to the force.

"They should all be made whole, whether they were suspended, demoted or fired," said John McNesby, president of the Fraternal Order of Police local. "These guys are out there doing their jobs and they have seconds to make a decision. ... They all did a good job."

The police commissioner testified before the grand jury, as did the officers and the three suspects.

At a news conference Thursday, Ramsey called some of the force used that night "indiscriminate" and "excessive."

"In my opinion, all the actions were not justified," he said.

Defense lawyers for the suspects voiced outrage over Thursday's announcement. At their recent attempted-murder trial, the videotaped beating was "the elephant in the room," as the prosecutor put it. Jurors viewed it several times.

"Violence and aggression by police has crept its way into the culture, and ordinary people have come to accept that aggression," said lawyer Mary T. Maran, who represents Hopkins and plans to sue the city on his behalf. "In turning a blind eye to police brutality, we pave the way for more and more of it."

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[PhillyCopsAreCorrupt]

A grand jury declined to indict these pigs because prosecutors deliberately presented an extremely weak case in an effort to protect the corrupt pigs, with whom they work every day to frame innocent people. The assaulting cops' "discipline" was a paid vacation, umm "suspension", which lasted for several months. These racist pigs are back on the job beating and framing blacks, sans the cameras, of course. There will never be any legitimate accountability in the Philadelphia Police Department.

[PhillyCopsAreCorrupt]

For each police crime captured on video, there are thousands of others which are not so memorialized. Millions of innocent, taxpaying citizens have been victimized by arrogant, racist, political-hack cops. Police officers are not interested in upholding laws, only in feeding their inflated egos, blue-collar hero vanities, and unwarranted god complexes. 

[madelyn9235]

it just aint Right and most you shits Know that. the ones that don't WELL..  THINK think deep.. they crooked for those who say they didn't see anything wrong with someone getting the shit kicked out of them. hell the one dude had 5 dicks wit ears kicking him..And you can clearly see other pigs just run over to help kick um. they must of felt bad there buddys had to do all that kicking.. Because thats needed. THEY THE MOB in Blue..the ppl who killed kennedy's the ones who runnin it today..THINk

[PhillyCopsAreCorrupt]

JUSTICE FOR BILLY PANAS, JR.! HE WAS MURDERED BY PHILLY COP FRANK TEPPER, WHO IS THE RECIPIENT OF A STAGGERING 57 INTERNAL AFFAIRS COMPLAINTS (AS PER A POLICE WEBSITE.) TEPPER IS ON TRIAL FOR PANAS' MURDER, BUT THE PROSECUTORS AND JUDGE ARE LITTLE MORE THAN CO-COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE -- JUDGING BY THEIR BEHAVIOR IN COURT. THESE LOWLIFE THUGS WORK TOGETHER TO FRAME INNOCENT PEOPLE. HOPEFULLY, THE JURY WILL SEE THROUGH THE PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT AND CONVICT COLD-BLOODED KILLER TEPPER! ACAB!

[77scapegoat]

@PhillyCopsAreCorrupt every cop...? how do you know that? lol. I aint taking sides here but COM ON MAN.

[lossleadas]

look the crooks wrong. pull them out the car and hand cuff them and leave it at that

[MrCarl220]

Ask me why I would NEVER serve on a jury!! Just look at crap like this injustice!

[PhillyCopsAreCorrupt]

@hot4six1 Exactly! These beating victims were ultimately cleared of wrongdoing. The only reason that they fled in the first place is that Philly pigs had previously unjustifiably beaten them. If pigs would just do their jobs legitimately, people would not run from them.

[hot4six1]

I can see why they were afraid to stop....the BLUE GANG was after them..

[Studio102]

@rcr111 your a cunt