Philiadelphia Police Beat Suspect
P H I L A D E L P H I A, July 13 -- Philadelphia police were caught on videotape today pulling a shooting suspect out of a suspected stolen police cruiser and beating him on the street.
The video shows Philadelphia policebeating and kicking the suspect, who was identified as Thomas Jones, 30.Minutes earlier, Jones and the police had been engaged in a wild shootouton the streets of north Philadelphia.
“Clearly, the activity on the tape is troubling,” saidPhiladelphia Mayor John Street at a press conference late Wednesday night.“We have unanswered concerns.”
Both Mayor Street and Philadelphia Police Chief John F. Timoney promised afair and thorough investigation into the incident, which criticallyinjured the suspect and in which three police officers were also hurt.
Street, who was in Baltimore for the convention ofthe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, returned to Philadelphia because of the incident, spokeswoman LuzCardenas said.
Jones’ fiancee, Victoria Bryant, told the Philadelphia Daily News that his body was still shaking — hours after the beating. “It’s like he thinks somebody is trying to hit him,” said Bryant after a hospital visit.
In an interview with the Daily News, Bryant’s mother, Peaches Wright, compared Jones’ beating to the 1991 battering of Los Angeles motorist Rodney
King by white police officers. The King incident touched off race riots.
“What you see is Rodney King in two different colors,” she told the Daily News.
Wednesday’s incident, Wright said, had both white and black officers beating on the suspect.
Chase,Shootout
The incident began at 12:40 Wednesday afternoon after police noticed thesuspect driving erratically and attempted to pull him over. The officersidentified the car as having been reported stolen July 1 in a carjacking,according to Timoney. Jones is a suspect in thecarjacking.
Police cornered the suspect, a gun battle ensued and 45 shots were fired.The suspect was wounded five times and then made off with another car, apolice cruiser, before coming to a stop several blocksaway.
