Philly Police 15 on 3 Beat Down "A Bit Beyond the Pale"

Posted by Pam Spaulding, Pandagon at 3:25 AM on May 8, 2008.

Apparently in the City of Brotherly Love the police training for cadets includes how to act like a punks in a schoolyard. I guess we have to be pleased that the Taser wasn’t whipped out as well for good measure. These men in the car may or may not have been guilty, but they certainly don’t look like they are resisting other than to stop the ass-kicking. Why do these officers have to whale on suspects in this manner when the person is already down on the ground?

Fifteen police officers were taken off the street as authorities investigate a video showing three suspects being kicked, punched and beaten after they were pulled out of a car during a traffic stop.

“At a glance it does appear to be a bit beyond the pale,” Doug Oliver, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Nutter, said Wednesday. “Officers are not allowed to operate outside of the law.”

…The video, shot by a WTXF-TV helicopter, shows three police cars stopping a car on the side of a road. About a dozen 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, another group of officers can be seen kicking a third man who ends up on the ground.