On Monday, May 19, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter have weighed in on the situation of the police officers that were recorded in the act of violently beating three African-American men. It was recorded that the three men were pulled out of the vehicle and beaten repeatedly.
In the video, the officers were caught striking the suspects repeatedly. The three suspects are 24 year old Dwayne Dyches, 23 year old Brian Hall, and 19 year old Pete Hopkins. So far, they have been charged for a few crimes. Commissioner Ramsey explains the three suspects may have been involved with a triple shooting.
There were 19 officers at the scene. Eight of them had taken part of the beating of the three suspects. Ramsey adds that only one of the officers at the scene acted within the proper limits.
Four of the officers will be fired, three will undergo disciplinary action, and one will be demoted in rank. The four officers that will be fired are: Vincent Strain, Patrick Gallagher, Patrick Whalen, and Robert Donnelly. They will be fired on the grounds of using force indiscriminately such as taking part in the beating.
The three officers going through disciplinary action are: Sean Bascom, Jonathon Czapor, and Demetrios Pittaoulis. They are being suspended for the duration of at least one week to two weeks.
Joseph Shiavone, the supervising sergeant will undergo a demotion for not intervening to stop the other officers for taking part in the beating.
These are the eight officers undergoing punishment. However, Ramsey explains that the officers may have been going through stress. Back in May 3, a fellow police officer named Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski was killed while responding to a bank robbery. But stress or no stress, the eight officers have been punished. However, there is an investigation to see if their emotions over the death of a fellow officer played a key role in the actions they had taken.
So far, the mayor and police commissioner have made it clear, action has been taken. Four officers will be fired, three will be suspended, and one will be demoted. At this moment, there have been no talks about any criminal charges. However, one could possibly expect the victims and their family members to possibly fire a civil suit. If that is the case, the civil suits could possibly make a lot of headlines.
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