police beating after stealing patrol car
July 14, 2000
PHILADELPHIA - The family of a suspect
shown on a videotape being beaten
and kicked by Philadelphia police
is reportedly planning to take
legal action against the city.
Family members of 30-year-old Thomas Jones
said there are witnesses to the
incident who contradict the city's claim that
Jones was still resisting arrest after
police pulled him from a stolen patrol car,
according to a report by Reuters.
Public reaction to the Wednesday incident has
been mixed.
Jill Nelson, editor of a book titled "Police Brutality,"
said on CNN's Newsstand program CNN National program
Thursday night that Philadelphia police "were not
engaged in restraining the suspect, they were
engaged in a mass mob assault and an attack."
However, some black politicians -- including
Houston Mayor Lee Brown -- urged people to
wait for results of investigations into the
incident that are under way.
"It looks bad, there is no doubt about that, but
let us not rush to judgment," Brown said.
Similar sentiments were expressed Thursday by
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and Los Angeles
Mayor Richard Rirdan, who are both Republicans.
However some members of the Congressional
Black Caucus - an organization made up
mostly of Democrats -- held a news
conference to decry the incident.
"It seems as if there are some police who believe
that it is their job to not only arrest, but to
convict and punish severely, unreasonably and
unjustly at the scene of arrest defendants and
suspects," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland.
Earlier on Thursday, Philadelphia Police
Commissioner John Timoney said the videotape
offers "only one angle" on the incident and does
not leave clear what occurred.
Jones faces charges of attempted murder -- for
allegedly shooting and wounding an officer and
trying to run another down -- aggravated
assault, car theft and reckless endangerment.
Police said he might also be charged with two
robberies and three purse-snatchings.
His controversial arrest is itself the subject of
two departmental investigations and a Justice
Department probe.
"If officers are found to have overstepped their
bounds, they will be dealt with," Timoney said
at a new conference.
But the commissioner rejected comparisons
between the incident and the 1992 case of
Rodney King, which ignited rioting in Los
Angeles after four white officers were acquitted
of state charges of beating the suspect. In the
King case, two of the Los Angeles Police
Department officers were eventually convicted
of federal civil rights charges.
Timoney noted that, unlike King, Jones was
evidently resisting arrest and allegedly
bit an officer. Also, the police did
not use batons in this case, and the
tape showed plainclothes supervisors
intervening to restore order, he said.
"When you look at the film, it doesn't look good,"
the commissioner said. "But you can think of a
lot of reasons for why people do certain things."
The videotape, shot Wednesday from a helicopter
by CNN affiliate WPVI, shows police officers massed
around the fallen man, kicking and punching him
for about 30 seconds.
Before the confrontation, officers chased Jones
in a stolen car until it crashed, then exchanged
gunfire with him, according to police and witnesses.
Police said Thursday they are still searching for
the gun Jones allegedly used and could not say if it
was the source of any of the 43 spent cartridges found
at the street intersection where the shoot-out occurred.
Despite being wounded, Jones was
able to commandeer a police car and
fled before he was cornered and
subdued, authorities said.
In the tape, Jones appears to resist
officers as he is led away in a neck
hold and handcuffs.
A Temple University Hospital
spokesman said Jones was shot twice
in the abdomen and three times in the
arm. He spent 2 1/2 hours in surgery
and was upgraded from serious to fair condition Thursday.
The shoot-out also left Officer Michael Livewell, 24,
with a wounded thumb, police said. The officer was
listed in fair condition at Hahnermann University
Hospital early Thursday.
Repercussions may be felt
The taped incident and the controversy it has
aroused follows months of efforts to spruce
up Philadelphia for the GOP convention,
which begins July 31. Above a photo of
the confrontation, Thursday's page one
headline in the Philadelphia Daily News
read, "Welcome, America!"
Speaking at a church in Orange, New Jersey, the
Rev. Al Shaipton said the incident "sends a terrible
signal as the Republican convention begins in that
city."
The incident also harks back to the
reputation Philadelphia's police force
had in the 60s and 70s, when it was
accused of being one of the most
brutal in the nation. More recently, the
department reached a legal settlement
calling for internal reforms, including speaking more to the issue of training - the lack thereof - and need for more intense training."
Police then began a running gun battle with
the suspect, who jumped into an empty patrol car
and allegedly shot Livewell in the hand as the
officer reached in to turn off the ignition.
After the second car chase came the beating by uniformed
and plainclothes officers, captured on videotape by the
WPVI helicopter.
CNN correspondents Frank Buckley and Deborah Feyerick,
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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