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May 8, 2008 6:30 pm US/Eastern
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Community To Meet On Taped Beatings
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
As the Philadelphia police department investigates officers caught on tape kicking and punching suspects a community meeting is now adding to the controversy. Some said the timing could not be worse.
As the Philadelphia police department investigates officers caught on tape kicking and punching suspects a community meeting is adding to the controversy. Some said the timing could not be worse!
"It was like Rodney King all over again, but in Philly this time," one man said.
Video from Sky Fox 29 shows police kicking and punching suspects in Feltonville, after police said they witness them involved in a shooting, has some in the city outraged and others confused about their police force.
Officers are now guarding the same scene to prevent an outbreak of violence there.
"I know it's stressful to be a police officer nowadays. They should have just made a simple arrest, even though they just came out of a shootout," one man said.
Community leaders said this is not the first time they have seen this kind of brutality.
"It's once again demoralizing, degrading we have huge feelings about what's being done to our children," Karen Miller said.
Miller organized a town meeting months ago, scheduled for Friday, on the issue of police brutality.
But city leaders said having it the same day as the Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski's funeral, who was gunned down last weekend, is highly insensitive.
"I think it's inappropriate at this time," Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez said.
Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez, who represents the neighborhood, understands the anger, but says the meeting needs to wait until after the funeral.
"When you try to mesh two things together, they're two totally separate incidents, I don't think that in the best interest of anybody, of our city," Quinones Sanchez said.
It would be a lot to call this meeting off now because the meeting was already scheduled, with all do respect to the officer's family. One thing had nothing to do with the other," Miller said,"They're professionals and there's no way in the world that you can justify beating someone as if they're an animal."
So the meeting will go on as scheduled, Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the community center at 8th and Diamond Streets. The parents of the three suspects who were beaten will be attending.
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