Philly Police Probe Beating Caught On Tape

(CBS/AP)  One police sergeant and five officers were removed from street duty Wednesday as authorities investigated television footage that showed a group of police officers kicking, punching and beating three suspects during a traffic stop.

More than a dozen officers were involved in the response, but Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said investigators were having the videotape enhanced to help determine how many of them were actually striking the suspects. Police are also relaying their information to the district attorney's office, which will determine if charges are warranted.

"We certainly are concerned about what we saw on the tape," Ramsey said at a news conference. "The behavior that at least was exhibited on the tape is unacceptable."

Ramsey said it was too early to say what kind of discipline the might be warranted. He told CBS' The Early Show that should the district attorney's office throw the case back to the police department, "I'll take appropriate action," adding that he'd judge each officer involved individually.

Police stopped the suspects' car while investigating a triple shooting in the city's Hunting Park neighborhood Monday night. No weapons were found in the car or on the suspects, Ramsey said, but officers said they had witnessed them shoot three people on a drug corner moments earlier.

The video, shot by WTXF-TV from a helicopter, shows three police cars stopping a car on the side of a road. Officers gather around the vehicle and pull three men out. About a half-dozen officers hold two of the men on the ground on the driver's side. Both are kicked repeatedly, while one is seen being punched; one also appears to be struck with a baton.

On the other side of the car, the video shows another group of officers kicking a third man who ends up on the ground.

The three suspects - Dwayne Dyches, Brian Hall and Pete Hopkins, all of Philadelphia - were each charged with attempted murder and related counts in connection with the earlier shooting, police said.

Hopkins' father, Pete, told The Early Show he thinks the officers involved in the beating should be arrested, saying they used "brute force."

"One of them could have been killed," Hopkins said.

The beating happened two days after the fatal shooting of a Philadelphia policeman, the third city officer slain on duty in two years. Ramsey said that officers have been on edge Officer Stephen Liczbinski was slain, but that they still need to maintain a high standard of conduct.

Police are not saying the three men were connected to the police officer's murder, but the killing, the third in two years, weighs heavily on the minds of every Philadelphia cop, CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston reports.

"There's no excuse for not concucting ourselves properly," Ramsey told CBS News. "There's a lot of stress, a lot of tension."

He added, however that, "The sergeant should have taken some kind of action to intervene."

Liczbinski was shot with an assault rifle after a robbery in the city's Port Richmond section on Saturday. One man was fatally shot by police soon after, another was arrested Sunday and a third was captured late Wednesday.

One expert on the use of police force said the law gives officers broad leeway.

Eugene O'Donnell, a professor of law and police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said supervisors would likely review the tape to see if there were signs that the suspects were acquiescing even as they were being beaten.

"It is certainly far from unheard of that somebody who was compliant engages in a fatal attack," said O'Donnell, a former prosecutor and police officer in New York. "Until somebody is handcuffed and secured, they could be a threat."

O'Donnell also said that the sheer number of homicides in the city - nearly 400 last year - is enough to put officers on edge.

"If you let your guard down, you can get yourself very seriously hurt," he said. "In the back of your mind, sure it's a city where anybody can get killed. Three days before that, your colleague got killed."

D. Scott Perrine, an attorney for the three suspects, has said that, as terrible as the officer's death was, it does not excuse for what police did to the three men. Dyches suffered a welt on his head the size of a baseball and that one of his legs was seriously injured, Perrine said. He said he didn't know the extent of the other men's injuries.

The mother of one of the suspects said she was outraged.

"I'm horrified to see that our city cops would beat some human being like they did, like a gang-style fight," Leomia Dyches said. "I'd actually like to see them in the criminal justice system. I'd like to see them tried for what they did."

[chrisjmonty]

with a baby daddy like that, im shocked that the the boy is a thug

[pfd572]

These officers were out of control and now their actions may undermine any charges or prosecution of the suspects who have been charged with attempted murder. I also wonder what the parents have to say to the victims their children left behind after their random gunfire???

[ranger1948]

closethippy1
I disagree with you. I always provided more service in the black neighborhoods than anywhere else because there was always more happening there. I never abused a prisoner, never saw any of my fellow officers abuse any, and i didn''t look down on the people in the black community. They needed my servive and i provided it as they also pay taxes for our service liek everyone else.

[carpriddler]

The police gang. The police will have their own gang signs, lingo, and turf wars with other departments. The so-called brotherhood is more like the old *** Angeles. Sooner then later we will have riots like the one in L.A. in the 90''s if this keeps up.

[closethippy1]

I have yet to see police officers behave like these towards rich folks or in a rich neighborhood.
It''''s true, it''''s not a matter of race but it is a matter of class.
The police across the US have always shown restraint when they patrol rich neighborhood, but that''''s not the case in poor neighborhoods.
It''''s always the poor that are looked upon as dispensable. Even during the nastiest wars rich neighborhoods for some reason are spared much of the destruction which only happens in poor and destitute areas.
We as a society need to mature beyond this point and stop devaluing people because of the little money they have.

[lochlan-2009]

They are already getting away with it. The people they beat were charged, but the police, "they need to look into it to see if charges need to be filed." Um, seemed pretty apparent to me 16 police officers were beating up 3 citizen. If they had murdered the president, it would still be illegal (whether the justice system ignores it or not) for them to beat up the person who did it. These "officers" have not even been charged, never mind put in jail or even fired!!!

American justice; ours, theirs, and the untouchables (the Bush Administration).

[diazsraul]

@ 3:47 Pete Hopkins $miles without thinking that his (innocent) $on will be hit by a law suit from the person that he shot. Typical idiot. LOL!!!

[Syndicate]

You know these dirty cops will walk. They always do. If a cop *** slaps you they walk. You argue with a cop you get to spend the next six months in court defending your self for "obstructing a police officer in the performance of his duties." Which is funny because I think thats one of the charges they are using against the victims.

[cepe10-2009]

They all need to be fully prosecuted with multiple charges just like the criminal scumbags they are. Some were accomplices but all are very guilty.

They will get off because of the corrupt fellow officers of the court in the form of district attorneys and judges.

[prinzowhales]

guyfromPa45--So what is important in the case are your ''feelings''...this roadside beating really made you feel good?...Tell me, is the gratification you feel from this, of a sexual nature?