Officer DeMayo, welcome to the media age. The cameraman’s backstory after the jump. This could get ugly.

Sent: September 19, 2006, 09:03 AM
Subject: police brutality
Message:
Here is the description given by the cell phone camera man:
We watched the entire incident unfold, from beginning to end.

As the clubs of the Old City area closed for the evening and hundreds
maybe thousands of patrons poured into the streets in around 3rd and
Chestnut.

The Police with their usual ?we don?t work for the citizens, they work
for us? attitudes where present and there predominantly for traffic
control purposes.

The scene was set.

A young black man and a young white man bumped shoulders on the
street. Tempers flared slightly and the two men both contributed in a
mild verbal exchange. Nothing More. There was no indication that at
any point, it would turn physical between the two men.

Seemingly aggravated, the Police intervened.

Unbeknownst to the black male, Police Officers approached from behind.
They immediately baton – choked him (from behind) and attempted to
take him to the ground. Seeing this, a crowd began to form and were
yelling at the Police saying ?hey, what the hell are y?all doing that
for…he didn?t do anything!!? (Can be heard on the tape)
An unidentified officer attempted to thwart my efforts to video the
incident by walking directly in front of me and shining his flash
light in my lens.

I moved positions.

When the take down attempt failed, one officer twisted the man?s arm
as if he were trying to place him in some sort of arm-bar lock. An
unidentified officer pulled his Taser, pressed it directly against his
chest and pulled the trigger several times. You could hear the
crackling of the electricity as well as visually see the Taser glow in
the night. HE STILL NEVER RESISTED.

Officer Demayo badge # 7429, then made his way into the picture (now
we are at 3 officers), he used his Police mag-Lite to hit the man on
and across his knees. When the subject fell to his knees, Officer
Demayo continued to beat him across his upper extremities( shoulders
right arm, forearm and wrist) with his police Mag-Lite! At this time
the officer with the Taser continued Tasing the man in his back!

THE CROWD ERUPTED!!! (video)

Some were literally crying and others shouted ?Stop beating him ..this
is Rodney King?!
Officer Demayo, continuing to behave like a poster child for mandatory
sensitivity training and continuing professionalism training, taunted
outraged on-lookers – shouting ?STEP OVER HERE – I?LL SHOW YOU WHAT
RODNEY KING?S ALL ABOUT!?

The man was lying there with ¾ of his body on the ground ? NOT
RESISTING. While on the ground, Officers hit him repeatedly with
batons and flash lights SIMULTANEOUSLY while the officer with the
Taser placed it directly against his back and Tasered him several
times. The Taser glowed in the night and the air smelled like cooked
flesh.

Several times, Officer Demayo took swings with his Baton at on-lookers
(on the video) ? who apparently got too close. He never once asked the
crowd to step back! The crowd KNEW to stay back because he was
behaving like a ?wild man? even taunting citizens to ?come and get
some?.

The crowd, outraged, feeling helpless, having just watched an innocent
man beaten and tasered, provoked and taunted by the same Officers who
were supposed to be there to restore order, ?boo?d? wildly as the
police as they pulled the beaten man up off the ground, to drag him to
the awaiting police van.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 at 2:43 pm.