A stunning incident of police brutality in Paris, Texas, was caught on tape and has led to ramifications.
Cornelius Gill was slammed up against a car in the town about 90 miles northeast of Dallas, and his friend was grappled alongside him.
Gill said of the incident: “It really hurt. I couldn’t breathe or anything. I just couldn’t believe he would do [that to] somebody like that.”
Paris Police Chief Bob Hundley admitted that “the emotions and frustration got a little out of line” and said the department takes allegations of police abuse seriously. The officer involved was suspended for two days without pay.
Paris, Texas, was also the sight of state police breaking up outbreaks of racial riots a year ago.
The video is pretty disturbing. It depicts a police officer brutally slamming a handcuffed young man onto the hood of a police cruiser that had barely stopped moving.
Here’s the full video (see the Huffington Post’s video for some brief interviews):
Note how after the first cop slams the young man onto the cruiser, his backup shoves a distraught witness for no apparent reason. When the witness tries to block the officer’s assault, the cop smacks him across the face. This officer then tries to force several witnesses away from the scene while the first cop takes the man he just brutalized off-camera. After this happens, you can hear what sounds like screaming from the cuffed man.
This is much more serious than a case of someone’s “emotions and frustration [getting] a little out of line” — this is a case of two police officers working together to commit violent crimes. Both of these cops acted disgracefully and deserve to be fired immediately. If you agree, you can let the Department know using this information from their website:
Bob Hundley – 903-737-4100
Chief of PoliceCommand Staff
- Assistant Chief of Police
Randy Tuttle – (903) 737-4130- Patrol Division Lieutenant
Terry Bull – (903) 737-4120- Criminal Investigation Division Lieutenant
Danny Huff – (903) 737-4139- Services Division Lieutenant
Burton Golden – (903) 737-4134- Office of Professional Standards
Tim Moree – (903)-737-4112
If the chief can’t see that smack, he’s blind or willfully stupid. Or maybe he just has Cop Vision that prevents cops from seeing the crimes of other cops.
That isn’t a smack. If you pay close attention, that cop has a small can of pepper spray and he used it on the witness. that’s why the kid is furious and punching the truck a few seconds later.
I agree with DK, it looks like the officer pepper sprayed the witness.
For years I’ve thought that I’d like to have the equivalent of a cop’s dash camera for my own truck – ideally two or three cameras, pointed front, left, and right. I’ve thought about cobbling such a system together from an embedded PC and some webcams, but it’s never been QUITE worth the hassle.
With the introduction of the Flipcams, I wonder if things aren’t easier now.
Do you have any suggestions or pointers to how we individuals might make our own dash cams?
I believe that Bob Hundley should be fired. This is despicable.
Thanks for the update Dr. Q. Pretty re-dic.
DKSuddeth:
“That isn’t a smack. If you pay close attention, that cop has a small can of pepper spray and he used it on the witness. that’s why the kid is furious and punching the truck a few seconds later.”
I watched it a few more times. It’s difficult to see, but it looks like you might be right. Either way, it doesn’t make these officers look any better.
I agree that the “smack” was actually the cop attempting to pepper spray the witness. I’ve watched it 10 times, second by second, and noticed two things. There is a canister in the cops hand when it comes up from his hip, and it really looks like the witness avoided getting it directly in the face. That cops should be the one suspended for two days without pay.
The other asshole, wearing the cowboy hat, should 1. Be fired. 2. Be charged with first degree assault and battery on a defenseless person at a minimum. The kid is handcuffed and standing still the entire the time the crusier is pulling up.
Texas has always allowed this sort of crap, it is just the powerful whites vs the lower income in this case blacks, however it could have been any person of color other than white. Texas is a racist state has been for years, I really wish I could offer a solution to this–but its going to take adult white men to stop hitting on people. And the one that should be fired is the Chief Of Police for allowing this good ole boy network to continue as it has for 100 years. The public has got to say ENOUGH OF THIS…
Sure enough — it is pepper spray. Even still, he’s so close to the guy’s face that it looks like he slaps him if you don’t watch carefully. I guess I’m the one who’s blind. :)
The guy deserved to get sprayed/slapped or whatever it was, he’s OBSTRUCTING (i know that’s a big word) JUSTICE. If i were a cop and a group of 3-5 people who are (easily seen) balling up there fists and making fighting gestures, i’d have my gun out ready to shoot much less slam the punk down on the hood who committed the first crime and was resisting arrest. It’s 2 cops outnumbered by about 5 people who clearly are trying to figure out a way to crowd the officers and take them down. HOW DO YOU KNOW THESE “WITNESSES” AREN’T ALL ARMED??? LIVING IN SOUTH BATON ROUGE HAS SHOWED ME, AT ANYTIME IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS, AT LEAST 1 OF THE INDIVIDUALS IN THE CROWD HAS A WEAPON ON THEM OR NEAR BY IN A STASH SPOT, BE REAL PEOPLE!
Bernard, apparently you’re watching a different video. When the witness was pepper sprayed, he was the only witness there. He didn’t start yelling until he watched a cop brutally slam someone (presumably his friend or relative) onto the hood of a police cruiser for no apparent reason. And he never did anything threatening.
Ok, so the kid was charged with disorderly conduct and the charges stuck, so we have no idea what happened before hand. I do know that the area they are in is particularly rough so they have to watch their backs, referring to the second cop, who i think did not smack that kid, but threatened him with pepper spray, which is a job well done on his part. those idiots were acting like they were going to start fighting them and what was done was necessary. job well done officers