Video: Police Beat and Taser Foreign Student In San Jose

This video is the focus of an investigation into the beating of a San Jose State student Phoung Ho by officers. Police reportedly had difficulty communicating with Ho and the encounter with the math major ended in beating Ho with batons and using a taser on him.

The video is grainy because it was taken with a cell phone, but it raises some troubling questions. One officer hits 20-year-old Phuong Ho with a metal baton more than 10 times, including once on the head.

What makes the matter worse is the impression that most, if not all, of these blows occurred after Ho was cuffed.

Police say that Ho, who is from Vietnam, did not obey an order to stand still and officers did not seem to understand what he was saying due to his accent.

The police were called after Ho reacted to his roommate Jeffrey Suftin allegedly putting soap on his steak. He reportedly picked up a steak knife and said that, in Vietnam, he would have killed Suftin for the act.

Police arrested Ho when he tried to follow them into his apartment. Ho said that his glasses fell off and, when he tried to pick them up, the officers attacked.

This video seems to offer a good basis for possible criminal charges against the officers, particularly for the final couple of blows. It is also an excellent basis for a tort action of assault and battery.

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