There is another disturbing videotape of a beating by police in California. This incident involves a bizarre chase of a suspect on horseback in San Bernardino county. The aerial footage shows the suspect on the ground after being stunned by a taser. Despite no evidence of resistance, the sheriff’s deputies proceed to punch and kick Francis Jared Pusok, 30. Pusok was suspected of stealing the horse. Three deputies were injured during the search — two from dehydration and a third was injured when kicked by the horse.
The encounter was the culmination of a bizarre series of events that started when deputies went to a home to serve a search warrant in an identity theft investigation. Pusok took off in a vehicle and deputies pursued him. Pusok then allegedly abandoned the vehicle and took off running. He lalter allegedly stole a horse and rode it on dirt trails. From the video, he does not appear a particularly skilled horseman.
The video below appears to show an unjustified and savage beating by the officers. There is obviously a possibility of not only termination but possible criminal charges against the officers. The police have launched an investigation.
Pusok has convictions for resisting arrest, animal cruelty, disturbing the peace, attempted robbery and failure to provide evidence of financial responsibility. However, that record does nothing to excuse this beating. While the department has claimed that the taser device was “ineffective due to his loose clothing,” it seems quite effective in the video. It would be interesting to see if the officers made this claim in their reports because the video shows Pusok on the ground and not moving. It then shows the other deputy quickly begins kicking him in the head and the deputy with the Taser is seen kicking Pusok in the groin area. Five more deputies arrive and join in on the attack. They then let him lay there for approximately 45 minutes, without receiving medical attention.
I cannot see a viable defense for these officers from this videotape and the analogies to the Rodney King beating are understandable. This case has the makings of a massive civil lawsuit as well as possible criminal charges against the officers. Pusok has an attorney.
Karen S,
That was wonderful.
Your style reminds me of Vicki Hearne, an author of books on animals and how they think, mostly dogs.
Do his arms ever move after he put them behind his back? I’ve looked several times and I don’t see an obvious struggle. Watching to end of video and they crowd around him for so long then, as they walk away and wonder around, he doesn’t even move. End video… Where is the rest?
I can’t watch the video because of bandwidth limitations. If the beating was unjustified, then the officers should be punished accordingly.
A word about the horse theft. The vast majority of horses are not the ancient, half asleep horses they rent to the public for guided trail rides. Those horses are often so old they can’t go faster than a slow trot. Most horses are extremely dangerous for a green rider to just hop on their back and kick their bellies, with no idea what to do. Most of my horses have been off the track, and would have either reared, bucked him off, or bolted. The latter is a danger to everyone as it is a panicked headlong dash. The man could have been tangled in the stirrups and dragged. A friend of a friend of mine died that way. She slipped off her horse, a good mare, but she was wearing the wrong shoes and her foot because hung up in the stirrup. Her horse had never been densensitized to anything dragging behind her. Think dog tangled up in a lamp cord. Her horse took off, kicking constantly. Unfortunately, her head took all the blows and she was dragged for a few miles. She died before they could catch her horse. And a bridle is not some sort of anchor that tosses out behind you, physically slowing you down. It’s basically a cue, and the horse can say “No.” A bolting horse will often decline to politely stop, so you need to know how to do an emergency stop when a hot horse’s brain has checked out. So much training goes into a horse before it can “liberty ride” which is without a saddle and bridle. All mine go bitless, and I’m working on teaching my mare to liberty ride.
As for a horse kick, it’s like being hit by a giant wielding a sledgehammer. If it hits your joint, it’ll break, if the horse really means it, and it’s not just a warning kick.
If he came off the horse, then that horse was loose and would likely bolt back to the barn, going through traffic if necessary. He could have broken his leg or caused a traffic accident. If that was my horse I would have been incensed.
Annie
I’ve been saying that too for some time. There’s a reason the people are kept dumb and the police well funded…
There seems to me an element of hyper-aggression here.
I would suggest that LEOs be tested for steroid use after cases like this, especially where a citizen is killed.
According to an interview yesterday, his girlfriend and mother of his three children was not even told which hospital he was at OR what condition he was in. Is that normal after such a beating?
It’s worse than that. The video clearly shows the suspect placing his hands behind his back, in a position to be cuffed, after lying face-down on the ground. This is more clear-cut than the Rodney King case (if that’s possible).
Well. I feel bad for the horse. Nagjacked and then ridden by a guy who rides like a sack of potatoes (ouch my aching back) over some terrain that was a bit rough in some spots.
At the end the horse is all like. Can I go home now?
Maybe they were POed about the horse too .
What a bunch of dumkoffs. Didn’t they KNOW they were being filmed by the helicopter.
Scant Data Frustrates Efforts to Assess Number of Shootings by Police
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, APRIL 8, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/09/us/us-has-limited-data-on-shootings-involving-police.html
Whatever data we have, we can do better.
Anonymous, you said: “Since Ferguson, it has been repeatedly noted that we do not even have reliable data on the number of people killed by police each year.” Well yes we do, at least an approximation.
Just last month, in the 31 days of March, 2015 police in the United States killed more people (111) than the UK did in the entire 20th century. In fact, it was twice as many; police in the UK only killed 52 people during that 100 year period.
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/american-cops-killed-people-month-march-uk-entire-20th-century/
If it wasn’t so tragic, regardless of who the victim is, it would be somewhat comical. The police, almost to a man appear to be a combination of the worst bullies on any middle school play ground, gathered together and finding themselves with what they have in common. It is almost like a pack of hyenas with each trying to get in their ‘licks’. The only reason the victim was not beaten more severely is that there was only so much room at the table.
Everyone of them should do time and the victim should get millions. It is one thing for a single cop to flip out and shoot someone but for almost a dozen of them to come together like this is way beyond scary.
Again the real show will be when the department tries to respond.
The police unions were the only public employee unions exempt from Scott Walker’s Act 10 union busting law. Perhaps he should’ve been reining in the police unions instead of the teachers union. He used police like thugs in the Madison protests.
“Timothy Lynch is the director of the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice and blogs at policemisconduct.net”:
Op-Ed: “Video of Walter Scott killing is but a glimpse of police misconduct”
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0412-lynch-shooting-20150409-story.html
Just a portion of the op-ed:
“There are very few instances in which video evidence is available. When it’s not, then all too often there is no serious scrutiny.
Vincent Bugliosi, the legendary Los Angeles prosecutor who put Charles Manson away, once admitted that most district attorneys have a double standard when it comes to filing criminal complaints against the police. Bugliosi said the unit responsible for investigating officer-involved shootings reviewed hundreds of cases during the 1980s and did not find a single criminal violation. That pattern has held over time. Between 2001 and 2005, there were more than 400 officer-involved shootings reviewed by Los Angeles Dist.
In Milwaukee, prosecutors refer officer-involved shootings to an inquest jury, which can recommend or decline criminal charges. In 25 years, there has never been a recommendation for charges.
Since Ferguson, it has been repeatedly noted that we do not even have reliable data on the number of people killed by police each year. What we do know is that when the Department of Justice is called in to scrutinize police practices, the findings are deeply disturbing.
In 2011, the feds investigated the practices of the New Orleans Police Department. The findings were scandalous. According to the report, the local commanders’ mishandling of police shooting investigations was “so blatant and egregious that it appeared intentional in some respects.” Last year, the Department of Justice reviewed 20 officer-involved shootings resulting in fatalities in Albuquerque from 2009 to 2012 and concluded that most of those killings were illegal.
Policing in the United States is decentralized among thousands of cities and counties — so professional and ethical standards will vary. Still, it seems safe to say that too many officer-involved shootings receive little scrutiny. What occurred in South Carolina was not an anomaly, it just happened to be caught on video.”
What is it with cops these days?
Here is another apparently clearcut case of police brutality. The cops aren’t even smart enough to take note of the news helicopter above. Or they don’t give a damn, thinking that the “blue shield” will protect them.
failure to provide evidence of financial responsibility?
What does a labor union have to do with a DA not indicting police officers for their crimes?
Trickle-down torture.
Problem is with I witness. The horse sees everything. But can’s speak to jury. JT has hiked trails in Utah. Anyone up for a hike in MOAB, Utah?
Time to do away with law enforcement labor unions that protect these thugs and punks.
Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em all around