A 40-minute car chase ending in San Francisco culminated in two police officers chasing down the suspect on foot, before brutally beating him for about 30 seconds, even as he lay flat on the ground and made no attempt to resist arrest.
The whole incident was filmed on CCTV, with sound. The cops appear to be shouting “Why’d you f*cking run?” as they use batons to repeatedly beat the suspect.
The two Alameda County Sherriff’s deputies have been placed on paid leave on Sunday, following the incident on Thursday, the Sherriff’s spokesman told the SF Gate. Their names are not being disclosed.
The chase went from San Leandro to the Mission neighborhood in San Francisco. The deputies approached the man before the car chase, which ensued after the suspect, Stanislav Petrov, 29, fled in a stolen car, at around 1:38am, according to the spokesman.
Before making his escape, Petrov reportedly rammed one of the officers’ cars, allegedly also knocking down one of the officers. They then pursue him into SF, until he crashed his car and tried to run. The pair eventually caught up with him in an alleyway, immediately laying into him with their batons and boots. Petrov lay face down on the ground, without resisting.
He can be heard screaming for help, as the two continue. This lasted for about 30 seconds until backup arrived, but the video has been pieced together from several bits of footage, so the beating could have gone on for longer than that.
They reportedly thought the suspect was armed and could also be on drugs. A gun was later recovered from Petrov.
He was taken to the San Francisco General Hospital after the beating, where he remained until Sunday with no information available on his condition.
San Francisco public defender, Jeff Adachi, who released the video, believes excessive force was used by the two cops. “He didn’t pose any threat at that point, and they are clearly using excessive force and trying to seriously hurt him when he was on the ground and subdued.
“I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t be handcuffed and taken into custody.”
RT has spoken to experts who see repeated incidents like this across America as a sign of the government’s unwillingness to really address the issue.
“What is triggering violence on the part of these police officers across the US is a general atmosphere of impunity. Right now we have police forces that are almost out of control. We need to change the culture, so that the police understand that they’re not going to be allow to violate the rights of individuals and get away with it,” Ajamu Baraka, associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, says.
Journalist and political analyst Caleb Maupin shares the view. “The police have been given a free hand to beat people, to shoot people, to mistreat people on a daily basis,” he says.
“And… a grassroots movement is the only thing challenging them. No one within the power structure will stand up to the power of police.”
Meanwhile, protests against this seemingly unstoppable culture of violence have become a mainstay in American daily life, as video evidence of similar police assaults continues to pop up regularly.