MORE COPS GONE WILD IN PHILADELPHIA DON'T MIND THE CAMERA...

First on Fox: Moms Of Beaten Men Talk To Fox29




Last Edited: Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 11:17 PM EDT




Leomia Dyches


Incident
Tensions remain high in the city after the murder of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski but now Philadelphia police now have a new issue to deal with that threatens to divide an already tense community.
There's no question Philadelphia police officers have been working long hours, and have been under a great deal of emotional stress, since Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski was gunned down Saturday.


But only Fox 29 cameras caught a violent confrontation Monday night between police and three men who fled a shooting that has triggered a firestorm of controversy.

This scene played out in Hunting Park shortly after reports of a triple shooting at the intersection of Second and Cayuga.

Commissioner Charles Ramsey said that on the surface, the incident doesn't look good.

Video from SkyFox - first aired on MyFoxPhilly.com - showed the police following the car at a high rate of speed. They blocked it in and the car eventually slowed down.

Officers then surrounded the car on foot and a large skirmish broke out, with police breaking out one car window and then struggling with the three suspects violently. The video shows the suspects being uncooperative. They eventually lie down on the ground. The video shows officers then kicking and stomping them.

But police will dig deep to get answers. Some officers in the video have been identified and they are working to identify the rest.

The video shows police pulling over a car on the 3700 block of North Second Street last night. What happened next was disturbing to all.

"It makes no sense. Nobody deserves to be beaten like that. They'll throw you in jail for treating a pit bull like that," said Leomia Dyches.

Her son, Dwayne, was the man pulled from behind the driver's seat in the video.

Attorney Scott Perrine has represented Dwayne Dyches for what he called minor drug infractions. Perrine says he saw him last night at Temple University hospital.

"He had a huge lump the forehead, he was semiconscious," Perrine said.

"There was no interaction, no request for documentation, and they were plucked from the vehicle. At that point, there were 14 cops."

Shirley Hopkins' 19 year old son Pete was the man pulled from the passenger side

"I was horrified. It is unbelievable what they would do to our children or young men," she said. "What we know is what we saw."

Commissioner Ramsey says the officers from the 25th district narcotics enforcement team had been conducting surveillance on a particular corner because they were worried there might be retaliation from a homicide the night before.

"We do not resort to the kind of behavior that you saw on that tape. We are not going to rush to judgment," Ramsey said.

"You have to take this in the context of the environment of what were operating," said Mayor Michael Nutter.

Commissioner Ramsey says the officers involved will be pulled from the street.

They'll also look at how long officers have been working and eliminate 12 hour shifts. As for the three men, they're still in police custody with aggravated assault charges against them. More charges are possible.

As for the actual shooter he's still at large. No gun was recovered.

On Tuesday, Fox 29 received a warrant for the videotape of the beating from the Internal Affairs division of the police department, and we complied with that request.

Also on Tuesday night, the defendants appeared before judge to be arraigned.

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