Police officers in Philadelphia are in the midst of a police brutality controversy after the video of a police beating was caught on tape.
The tape shows about a dozen officers gathering around the vehicle and pulling three men out. About half a dozen officers held two of the men on the ground. Both are kicked repeatedly, while one is seen being punched; one also appears to be struck with a baton. The third man is also subdued.
The victims have been identified as Dwayne Duches, Brian Hall and Pete Hopkins.
The chase started in the Hunting Park neighborhood of North Philly as Duches, Hall and Hopkins reportedly fled a shooting.
A team of narcotics officers with the 25th Police District witnessed a triple shooting during a drug surveillance at 4th and Ansberry streets. The officers were attempting to identify and arrest suspects and question them about slaying of Andrew Coach on Sunday.
Police watched as four men got out of a gold Mercury Grand Marquis and walked to the corner. One of them then fired upon three other men standing on the corner. The man who fired took off running and his three companions got back in the Grand Marquis and drove off, with police in pursuit.
Soon thereafter, Duches, 24, Hall, 23, and Hopkins, 19, were pulled over.
Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey said Philadelphia officers had been on edge since last Saturday, when fellow officer Stephen Liczbinski was fatally shot with an assault rifle after a robbery.
One of the robbery suspects was shot dead by police, another was arrested on Sunday and a third, Eric DeShawn Floyd, remains on the run.
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