Philadelphia Police Beating - Video - Defense Claims Mistaken Identity

We have the video of the Philadelphia police beating three shooting suspects after an auto chase. At least 15 officers were allegedly involved in the beating, and 13 have been removed from duty pending a police investigation of the incident.

Attorneys representing the three defendants claim that the police officers that were involved in the beating concocted a story that the defendants were shooting suspects so they could cover up a police error that the police mistook one of the defendants for another man sought in a cop killing from the previous weekend.

The first video is strictly a video of the beating with no audio to speak of:



Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and Mayor Michael Nutter denied the cover-up allegations and said that officers legitimately pursued the defendants’ car after a triple shooting.

The lawyers claim that their clients, Brian Hall, 23, Dwayne "Lionel" Dyches, 24, and Pete Hopkins, 19, were not involved in any shooting. Instead, they said that police chased their vehicle and beat the trio because they believed that Dyches, who was a passenger in the car, was a man wanted in the fatal shooting of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski.

Liczbinski was a 12-year member of the force who was shot in the line of duty last week while pursuing three robbery suspects and who was buried today.

If the lawyers’ claim proves to be true, the police officers involved in the beating incident could be facing some very severe charges.

The second video is some of the beating plus a reporter's version of the incident:


Philadelphia Police Beating

The beating, which was filmed by a Fox News TV affiliate helicopter, came after several police cars surrounded and blocked the escape of Hall, Dyches and Hopkins’ vehicle.

Three groups of officers then allegedly dragged the trio from their car and proceeded to punch, kick, and stomp the defendants and also beat one of the defendants with a night stick.

Rev. Al Sharpton suggested the beating was racially motivated and called it "worse than Rodney King," referring to a similar beating of a single black man by Los Angeles police officers in 1991. The acquittal of the police officers involved in that beating motivated rioters in the LA riots of 1992.

See the original Rodney King Beating Video from 1991

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Rodney King, former Police Brutality Victim, Shot in LA

Rodney King was shot Wednesday night while riding a bicycle in San Bernadino, California. According to Rialto, California, police, who responded to the shooting, King was shot with a shotgun, but his wounds were superficial.

King became an international symbol as a victim of police brutality when his videotaped beating by Los Angeles police in 1991 after the conclusion of a high speed chase made headlines and caused a furor around the world.

The King beating appeared extremely brutal, and the 1992 acquittal of the police officers involved in the beating resulted in Los Angeles riots that left over 50 dead and thousands injured. King eventually won a civil award of $3.8 million in the case.

After King was shot Wednesday night, he rode his bicycle home and filed a report with the Rialto police. Sergeant Don Lewis of the Rialto police said that King "had some minor pepper wounds that looked like they were from bird shot."

"He took some pellets to his face, back and upper torso ... It looked like birdshot, looked like (a) long-distance shot." Lewis described the injuries as "extremely minor."

The video below is King’s beating at the hands of the Los Angeles police on March 3, 1991.