If it looks like crap, smells like crap...tastes like crap. Then it must be
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> Police Have Violent Confrontation In OTR, Tensions Run High
> Reported by: Steve Johnson
> Web produced by: Stacy Puzo
> Photographed by: Richard Lane/Jason Garrison
> 10/9/03 10:29:55 PM
> Four people are in jail after a violent confrontation in Over-the-Rhine
> Thursday between police and several suspects. Officers said it could have
been
> worse, one of the suspects had a loaded gun.
> It happened Thursday evening in Over-the-Rhine, 9News was the first to
bring
> you this story.
> Police at District One admit it was a violent confrontation and said the
> suspects are lucky they didn't use deadly force, but Over-the-Rhine
neighbors
> who witnessed the arrest said police still went too far.
> "They were on top of this guy they had his knees, one officer had his
knees in
> the guys legs the other two officers had his knees in his back he begins
> punching the guy in his ribs," said Rodney Beamon, witness.
> Beamon said he's one of more than a dozen people who saw it all,
Cincinnati
> police attacking a man in handcuffs. That man was 19-year-old Charles
Antonio
> Brooks and the crowd did not like what they saw.
> "When they were hitting the young boy in his ribs that's when the crowd
> approached police, saying 'stop, stop, what y'all hitting him for?'"
Beamon
> said.
> Cincinnati police said one of their bike patrol officers witnessed Brooks
> making a drug deal at the corner of Republic and Green Street and when the
> officer confronted him Brooks resisted.
> "Officer Woods was still standing over his bike at this point the subject
> forcibly then tried to get away, pulling Officer Woods off of his
bicycle,"
> police said.
> Chief Tom Streicher said what people saw may have been ugly, but it was a
life
> or death situation for his officers because Brooks was carrying a loaded
nine
> millimeter handgun.
> "If someone has a hold of a gun and the person refuses to release that gun
and
> you're in a close situation like they were, all bets are off, you fight
and you
> win that fight the best way that you can and that's what these officers
did,"
> Streicher said.
> "Clearly to those in the community who are upset, it looks like a case of
> police brutality," Streicher said.
> City Council Candidate Reverend Damon Lynch, III, said people who saw the
> arrest are upset.
> "Tensions and emotions run high when people see somebody beaten in the
streets
> while police are affecting an arrest," Lynch said.
> Police said they found a small amount of marijuana on Brooks. Right now he
is
> being charged with carrying a concealed weapon, resisting an arrest and
> obstruction of police business.
> Meanwhile, three other people are in jail at the Hamilton County Justice
Center
> in connection with this incident. Nineteen-year-old David McMullen is
facing
> similar charges and 25-year-old Levell Lowery and 33-year-old Joseph
Sheparo
> were arrested for allegedly assaulting police.
> http://www.wcpo.com/news/2003/local/10/09/otr_late.html
> "The gravest abuse of power - and the gravest threats to personal liberty
and
> security - are those in which the very individuals to whom we look for the
> preservation of law and order turn out to be the predators."
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