Beatings, lies and videotape

(FinalCall.com)---Americans who watched in disbelief yet another taped police beating of a Black man are being told by some that "you didn�t see what you saw."

Defenders of officer Jeremy Morse�who picked 16-year-old Donovan Jackson-Chavis off the ground and slammed his body head first viciously onto the trunk of a car�say the officer�s actions were a reaction to the handcuffed, badly bruised and seemingly semi-conscious youth�s effort to grab the officer�s private parts.

People across the country strained their eyes to see when the boy made such an effort. It wasn�t apparent on the tape.

Then again, if not for the tape, the nation would not be discussing the issue of police brutality in Inglewood, Calif. The brutally beaten boy would have been another statistic and railroaded through the process, probably charged with resisting arrest and introduced to the criminal justice system, facing charges alongside his father. But since there is a videotape, the boy and his father have not yet been charged. It would be hard to argue an offense in the face of such blatant treatment by the cops.

Police allege they stopped the father, Coby Chavis, while he was parked in a gas station because of expired registration. Police said the boy lunged at one of the deputies after he tried to make the youth sit in the patrol car while his father was questioned.

After the boy is slammed into the car, an officer punches him in the face. But it wasn�t the first punch to the boy�s face�which explains why he was bloodied.

Meanwhile, in Oklahoma City, another Black man was videotaped taking a beating from White cops. There are questions about whether the beating was excessive use of force as an officer pepper sprayed the man, forced him to the ground and beat his lower body with a baton.

Amnesty International noted July 12 that "police use of excessive force remains endemic in many areas," in a statement that followed airing of the videotapes. "While some departments have introduced reforms following heightened scrutiny in recent years, this has not filtered down to all departments or all levels, and allegations of police brutality, particularly towards minority suspects, remain common in many areas," the human rights group said.

"The code of silence�in which officers fail to report brutality or cover up abuses�commands widespread loyalty, contributing to a climate of impunity," Amnesty warned, in a report on police abuse in the United States issued several years ago. It also noted that millions of dollars are paid out every year by local jurisdictions to settle brutality cases. Yet the problem and the refusal to face up to the problem of police misconduct continues.

Police officers perform a valuable and dangerous work on a daily basis. Those good officers deserve to be respected and commended for their efforts. In truth, it is an affront to good officers that bad cops are allowed to remain in police departments. Rogue cops should not be viewed as examples of the pressures that officers endure. They should be held up as criminals, prosecuted and jailed.

FinalCall.com