Updating: No Charges in Videotaped Philly Cop Beating

[Ken [NY]]

Updating: No Charges in Videotaped Philly Cop Beating

Philadelphia, PA - 8/29/2001

The 14 Philadelphia police officers videotaped dragging Thomas Jones
out of a stolen police car and beating and kicking the wounded
carjacking suspect used less force than they were legally entitled to
use and should not be prosecuted, a grand jury decided in a report
unsealed yesterday.

In fact, the grand jury wrote, officers would have been justified in
using deadly force to apprehend Jones on July 12, 2000, at 26th and
Oxford Streets.

At that point, police incorrectly believed Jones - who had led them on
a wild high-speed chase through residential sections of North
Philadelphia - had shot an officer. Jones continued to violently
resist arrest, even after being surrounded, according to the grand
jury's unanimous report.

Victoria Bryant Jones, whom Jones married in a courtroom ceremony in
December, said she was disappointed but not surprised that the
officers will not face criminal charges.

"Why can't they be charged for attempted murder or recklessly
endangering another person? Why? Because they're wearing a badge.
They're in the system," she said. "They're all together."

Richard Costello, president of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of
Police, praised the grand jury's review and said it "totally
exonerated" the officers.

"The grand jury found that six seconds of videotape was not the truth
and, in fact, distorted the truth," Costello said.

An Inquirer frame-by-frame analysis of 28 seconds of the arrest
indicated that Jones was kicked and hit at least 59 times, including a
blow that came when an officer slammed the North Philadelphia man on
the shin with a police radio.

The grand jury's decision - which also includes eight recommendations
to the Police Department - does not end the controversy over the
violent arrest. FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi said the agency is
continuing to monitor the case. Police Commissioner John F. Timoney
said the 14 officers still face an internal police investigation and
possible disciplinary action. And Jones' attorney, Frederico Sayre of
Newport Beach, Calif., said he is planning to file a
multimillion-dollar federal civil-rights lawsuit next month.

A videotape excerpt of the struggle, which the grand jury agreed was
shocking on initial review, was broadcast on TV around the world and
brought unwelcome attention to the city on the eve of the Republican
National Convention.

The grand jury watched the full video - which was captured by a
helicopter TV news crew - more than 100 times, synchronized with the
police radio tape, to analyze every movement of each officer. In 10
months of investigation, the panel heard testimony from more than 70
witnesses.

The grand jury's 191-page report concluded that the officers were
justified in hitting and kicking Jones - who by that time had
sustained four or five gunshot wounds in the arm and abdomen - because
he resisted being handcuffed.

Also, the report noted, the officers testified that they feared Jones
might grab for one of their weapons or a gun they incorrectly believed
he was carrying in his waistband.

The grand jury report was most critical of the police gunfire at 17th
and Francis Streets, where the pursuit began after Jones was spotted
driving a stolen car. He was pulled over but broke free as he was
being arrested.

Ten officers fired a total of 46 shots on a residential street,
including eight shots as Jones, who was high on crack cocaine that
morning, sped away in Officer Cedric Gaines' police car. Also wounded
was Officer Michael Livewell, who was shot in the thumb by Gaines.

"Some of the shots may not have been necessary, and could have had
unintended and disastrous consequences to civilians as well as other
officers who were in each other's line of fire," the grand jury wrote.

Grand jurors also stated they did not believe much of Jones' testimony
to them.

Jones, 31, said he was unconscious for much of the beating and could
not remember whether he resisted arrest. He also claimed that after
the taped beating, officers put him beneath a tree and resumed kicking
him, according to the grand jury report.

"We find that Thomas Jones' financial interest in the outcome of his
planned civil suit against the city regarding his arrest influenced
the substance of his testimony before us," the grand jury wrote.

Local NAACP president J. Whyatt Mondesire said he was dismayed, but
not surprised, by the grand jury's report.

"Police violence will never be met with the full force of the criminal
justice system," Mondesire said. "It's impossible as long as Lynne
Abraham is district attorney. You're never going to get justice."

Mondesire, a longtime critic of Abraham's, said she led the grand jury
to its decisions.

Victoria Bryant Jones agreed: "The main problem in that whole system
is District Attorney Lynne Abraham. She keeps covering for everybody.
She covers up for the police every time they do something."

Bryant Jones said she hopes for justice in the federal courts.

Abraham said her critics were motivated by politics.

"I think a fair review of this office indicates that we have arrested
officers for murder. We have arrested officers for corruption. We have
arrested and prosecuted officers for shaking down drug dealers. We
have arrested and prosecuted officers for killing their wives. We have
arrested and prosecuted officers for using excessive force on duty,"
she said.

In its recommendations to the Police Department yesterday, the grand
jury indicated that officers needed better training and supervision in
pursuits, defensive tactics, and use of deadly force.

Grand jurors also recommended improvements to police radio
communications, an upgrade of police helicopter camera gear, and more
frequent use of the police aviation unit.

"They seem like very thoughtful recommendations," Timoney said,
promising to put together a team to review the findings.

The 14 officers targeted by the grand jury's investigation were Robert
Billips, Leonard Boston, Christopher Fischer, Acie Frames, Darryl
Gregory, James Henninger, Paul Langford, Charles Marable, Christopher
McCue, Ricardo Moreno, Andrew Schafer, Christopher Stever, Stacy
Tribble-Ramirez and Robert Weber.

All have been assigned to desk duty since Jones' arrest.

"They've all been taken off the street," Costello said. "Some of them
are fairly bitter because they feel they've been punished already."

In June, Jones was sentenced to 18 to 37 years in prison for a 12-day
carjacking and robbery spree last summer.

PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS

Ken [NY]
--
Chairperson,
Department of Redundancy Department
____________________________________

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To be is to do - Sartre
Do be do be do - Sinatra

Q: What do you call a Midget Psychic who just committed a crime?
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