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US police charged after violent arrest taped
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-10 09:39
Two New Orleans police officers repeatedly punched a 64-year-old man accused
of public intoxication, and another city officer assaulted an Associated Press
Television News producer as a cameraman taped the confrontations.
After being questioned, the three officers were arrested late Sunday and
charged with battery. They were then released and ordered to appear in court at
a later date, Capt. Marlon Defillo said.
"We have great concern with what we saw this morning," Defillo said after he
and about a dozen other high-ranking police department officials watched the
APTN footage Sunday. "It's a troubling tape, no doubt about it. ... This
department will take immediate action."
Robert Davis, who was repeatedly punched by
two police officers during his arrest is shown in a mug shot released by
the police in New Orleans Sunday afternoon Oct. 9,
2005.[AP] | The assaults come as the department,
long plagued by allegations of brutality and corruption, struggles with the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the resignation last month of Police
Superintendent Eddie Compass.
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.
Police officers subdue a man on Conti Street
near Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans Saturday night,
Oct. 8, 2005.[AP] | 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.
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.
A mug shot of Davis, provided by a jailer, showed him with his right eye
swollen shut, an apparent abrasion on the left side of his neck and a cut on his
right temple.
"The incidents taped by our cameraman are extremely troubling," said Mike
Silverman, AP's managing editor. "We are heartened that the police department is
taking them seriously and promising a thorough investigation."
Davis, who is black, was subdued at the intersection of Conti and Bourbon
streets. Three of the officers appeared to be white, and the other is light
skinned. The officer who hit Matthews is white. Defillo said race was not an
issue.
Three of the five officers — including Smith — are New Orleans officers, and
two others appeared to be federal officers. Numerous agencies have sent police
to help with patrols in the aftermath of Katrina.
Under normal circumstances, it takes unusually offensive behavior to trigger
an arrest on Bourbon Street. But New Orleans police have been working under
stressful conditions since the hurricane.
Officers slept in their cars and worked 24-hour shifts after the storm.
Three-quarters lost their homes and their families are scattered across the
country.
"Our police officers are working under some very trying times," Defillo said.
"So it's a difficult time, but it doesn't excuse what our jobs are supposed to
be."
Many officers deserted their posts in the days after Katrina, and some were
accused of joining in the looting that broke out. At least two committed
suicide.
Conditions have improved — officers now have beds on a cruise ship — but they
don't have private rooms and are still working five, 12-hour days.
Compass, the police superintendent, resigned Sept. 27. Despite more than 10
years of reform efforts dating to before he took office, police were dogged by
allegations of brutality and corruption.
On Friday, state authorities said they were investigating allegations that
New Orleans police broke into a dealership and made off with nearly 200 cars —
including 41 new Cadillacs — as the storm closed in.
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