Disgusting, shameful, disgraceful... How to describe it. An AP cameraman catches some cops in New Orleans beating an old black man who appears to not be resisting in any way.
Then a horse-mounted cop maneuvers his horse in front of the cameraman to try and obstruct the cameraman's view, but fails. We see the black man take at least 5 very severe punches to the head, with his head being smashed into the wall with each strike.
Then another cameraman on a balcony shows the man cuffed, lying nearly motionless on the sidewalk, in a huge pool of blood, his face mangled and looking totally disoriented.
Next, a N.O. cop assaults an AP reporter, demanding he cut the camera off.
Someone tell me how we are not now in a police state?
From CNN:
The APTN tape shows an officer hitting the man at least four times in the head Saturday night as he stood outside a bar near Bourbon Street. The suspect, Robert Davis, appeared to resist, twisting and flailing as he was dragged to the ground by four officers. Another of the four officers then kneed Davis and punched him twice. Davis was face-down on the sidewalk with blood streaming down his arm and into the gutter.
Meanwhile, a fifth officer ordered APTN producer Rich Matthews and the cameraman to stop recording. When Matthews held up his credentials and explained he was working, the officer grabbed the producer, leaned him backward over a car, jabbed him in the stomach and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade.
"I've been here for six weeks trying to keep... alive. ... Go home!" shouted the officer, who later identified himself as S.M. Smith.
Defillo identified the patrolmen as Stuart Smith, Lance Schilling and Robert Evangelist. Smith is an eight-year veteran of the department, and the other officers have each been on the force for three years, he said.
Police said Davis, 64, of New Orleans, was booked on public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation. He was treated at a hospital and released into police custody.