More Cops Gone Wild: Birmingham Edition

[Batman]

Three police beatings in one week? We haven't seen this since the LAPD's heyday.
This one may be the worst, though. It makes the California cop's kick to the head look like a love tap.
Car chase in Alabama ends when the car flips into a ditch, ejecting the driver out the side window. As he's laying face down in the ditch after this vicious wreck, possibly dead or seriously injured, the cops' first response isn't to check on the guy. It's to come in with nightsticks and fists flying to get their licks in. A half dozen cops, and every one of them gets a shot in.
The FBI is investigating civil rights abuses and the five cops involved have been fired.
Now, the guy in the car did run over a cop. No defense for that. He should be prosecuted for attempted murder. But what the cops did is just overreaction to the Nth degee.

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/05/fbi_investigates_birmingham_po.html

 

[dargan]

And the continuing errors of a few paint the entire region's inhabitants as racist once again.

 

[Armchair_QB]

According to the story the incident happened in January of 2008.

 

[Batman]

According to the story the incident happened in January of 2008.

Yeah, the story added that some supervisors were being disciplined for covering it up.

 

[DanOregon]

Just plain dumb. I get being pumped up, I get being pissed. What I don't get is losing your head in a situation like that. You save that kind of crap for the back of the station where there aren't cameras.
My money says all five will have new gigs in police departments in Bama before football season.

 

[Trouser_Buddah]

Just plain dumb. I get being pumped up, I get being pissed. What I don't get is losing your head in a situation like that. You save that kind of crap for the back of the station where there aren't cameras.
My money says all five will have new gigs in police departments in Bama before football season.

So your problem with their behavior is their timing?

 

[DanOregon]

Obviously it was deplorable and indefensible. But you have to wonder just how stupid these guys were in the first place. It's one thing if a guy is resisting, but beating on someone who is unconscious? I just expected their douchiness to be a little less obvious.

 

[JackReacher]

And the continuing errors of a few paint the entire region's inhabitants as racist once again.

Oh, there's more than a few.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

To me, the stupidity is these guys doing this while knowing their cars have video cameras. It's almost as if they want to get caught.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Inexcusable.

There is a big difference between the punt and this.

 

[Armchair_QB]

According to the story the incident happened in January of 2008.

Yeah, the story added that some supervisors were being disciplined for covering it up.

Usually it's not the crime, it's the cover up. But in this case it's both.

 

[Batman]

To me, the stupidity is these guys doing this while knowing their cars have video cameras. It's almost as if they want to get caught.

Birmingham's mayor agrees. From one of the other stories on the link:

Langford said he intends to put video cameras in more police cars.

"We put cameras in the cars for their protection," he said of the officers. "These idiots were too stupid to know they would film them doing something wrong, too."

 

[Armchair_QB]

To me, the stupidity is these guys doing this while knowing their cars have video cameras. It's almost as if they want to get caught.

Birmingham's mayor agrees. From one of the other stories on the link:

Langford said he intends to put video cameras in more police cars.

"We put cameras in the cars for their protection," he said of the officers. "These idiots were too stupid to know they would film them doing something wrong, too."

Awesome.