San Jose police officers caught on video using baton, Taser gun on unarmed, handcuffed suspect

[leanderj]

http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_13635707

San Jose police officers caught on video using baton, Taser gun on suspect
By Sean Webby

A cell phone video shows San Jose police officers repeatedly using batons and a Taser gun on an unarmed San Jose State student, including at least one baton strike that appears to come after the man is handcuffed, as they took him into custody inside his home last month.

The video, made by one of the student's roommates without the knowledge of police, shows that force was used even though the suspect was on the ground, and apparently offering no physical threat to the officers. Several experts in police force said the video appears to document excessive — and possibly illegal — force by the officers. A police spokesman Friday said the department had opened a criminal investigation of the officers' conduct, after police officials viewed a copy of the recording.

The confrontation arose as Phuong Ho, a 20-year-old math major from Ho Chi Minh City, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting another of his roommates. He faces pending misdemeanor charges of exhibiting a deadly weapon and resisting arrest. Ho admits picking up a knife as he argued with a roommate. He was not armed when police arrived....

"It takes me back to the day I saw the Rodney King video on TV," said Roger Clark, a certified policing expert and a retired lieutenant with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, where he served for 27 years... The video shows police standing over Ho in a hallway of his house for more than two minutes. During that time, one officer strikes Ho with a metal baton more than 10 times — at times swinging it with both hands — while another officer leans in and uses his Taser gun.

Among the issues noted by the outside experts: Ho remains on the ground, moaning and crying, as he is repeatedly struck. He does not appear to offer significant resistance, suggesting the high level of force is not necessary. The officer most visible in the sequence stands for much of the time in a casual posture, at one point with his legs crossed. He seems to show no concern that the situation is potentially dangerous — raising additional questions about why force was being used. The final baton strike appears to occur after the handcuffs can be heard snapping onto Ho's wrists. That particularly troubled several outside experts. "That's a felony," said Clark...


http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_13629534

Mercury News Editorial

The worst part is the sound.

As you watch the video of San Jose police officers beating and Tasing 20-year-old Phuong Ho, the hardest thing is to hear the college student scream in pain. That and the sickening thud of batons, seen only dimly in the cell phone video but unmistakable to the ear.

It is the kind of thing you expect from rogue precincts in Los Angeles or New York. In downtown San Jose, it is stunning.

The incident calls for a swift and strong response from the Police Department, the county district attorney and political leaders, starting with Mayor Chuck Reed. This is the time for absolute transparency for law enforcement and the highest level of communication with minority communities that increasingly fear the police...

[Heidi]

1. Recommended.

:kick:

[The Magistrate]

2. As the Author Should Know, Sir, There Is Not Really Any Question Why Such Force Was Used

It was used because the officer enjoys making another human being scream, and has every expectation he will never be called to account for indulging this taste while in uniform....

[thunder rising]

4. I agree! During the Bush "reign of terror" the psycho masochists took over the police.

[barbtries]

9. interesting you would say that

i had begun to reply to the OP and wrote "i blame it on bush."

when a thug is running the country, what should be expected? i used to struggle with the issue when i went to teach victim impact classes at the CYA. our president was a warmongering murderer. who am i to try and teach non-violence to anyone?

i feel our society is becoming polarized and the militarization of the police and their frequent displays of absolute thuggery i find worrisome. i don't know what will turn it around if obama's presidency doesn't.

[thunder rising]

12. I'm sure *most* are good folks, but they cover for and enable the bad ones ... so I don't trust any

[thunder rising]

3. Hey, math majors are dangerous people.

[ThomCat]

5. Police brutality is becoming acceptable.

Police chiefs and administrators don't even pretend to investigate anymore to find out if anything was done wrong. They start with outright excuses and white-washing from the beginning now, and claim that force is justified unless people prove that it wasn't, to some impossible standard.

That is a clear sign that our society is collapsing. When law enforcement is turning against society itself, and every citizen is a target, when nobody is safe from from law enforcement then what are they protecting?

It used to be, through all the racism and classism, there was was a core community of rich white people being protected but I don't know that anybody is really being protected anymore. At least, not in great enough numbers to really be a society in any sense of the word.

The police are becoming one of the factors eroding society instead of protecting it. The police are becoming so militant, so hostile and combative, so sure that it is us versus them and that all of "us" must be guilty of something, and are therefore fair game for abuse, that they are actively treating every one of us like criminals.

Is it any wonder that we now have a greater portion of our population in prison than any other nation on earth? That also means that we have a far greater portion of our population who have been criminalized, who have been on probation, or on parole, or in jail or in prison at some point than any other nation on earth. We are becoming a nation of criminals not because we are all doing anything wrong but because law enforcement is out there creating criminals, entrapping people, labeling and railroading people, and profiling anyone they can get away with profiling.

How bad are we going to let things get before we rip apart the current system and demand that law enforcement be rebuilt from the ground up with people and methods that respect society again?

[Forkboy]

6. It's the few good ones that ruin it for all the bad apples.

[timtom]

7. Video not available at this moment.

[SoBascom]

8. Kenneth Siegel and Steven Payne, Jr. have been named as officers in video

per NBC

[Flaneur]

10. Cops rarely get indicted, even more rarely convicted.

We'll see.

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. The cops will claim that something is occuring that we don't see in the video, that the

guy was reaching for one of their guns. Funny how often that happens... an arrestee reaching for the cops gun. :eyes: :eyes:

[Trekologer]

14. The "something" is that they didn't know they were being recorded

If they did know, the guy recording them would be fighting a made-up charge as well. And the video would have been destroyed.

[winyanstaz]

13. The Gestapo is alive and well in America today...

[SoBascom]

15. 4 San Jose cops put on leave after video shows student beaten

4 San Jose cops put on leave after video shows student beaten
By Sean Webby
Updated: 10/25/2009 04:44:31 PM PDT

San Jose police officials said on Sunday that four officers who were at the scene when a student was repeatedly struck with a baton and received Taser gun shocks have been placed on administrative leave while the department reviews the incident captured on a grainy cellphone video.

The mayor, the police chief, and a city councilman on Sunday all separately voiced concern, and vowed that a department review would be fair and complete.

[G_j]

16. unusual that a cell phone video gets taken under these circumstances

the roommate is lucky he didn't get his ass beaten.

One can only guess how often this happens and doesn't get recorded.

[pinniped]

17. I had a run in with some of these assholes in San Jose.

They totally make shit up and get away with it. Hell, they'll probably get a medal for subduing this violent dude,