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.
the horse was apparently injured during the thief’s ride over rough ground.
This right here makes ME want to beat the living snot out of the guy. As I said. I feel for the horse.
@ Karen & Pogo
True. Getting to know the officers and they getting to know the community on a personal level is the key to both respect for the police and for compassion and understanding on their part.
Living in a small rural town and a rather sparsely populated area, we all tend to know each other and basically recognize who you are by the vehicle you are driving. They know who you are and if you are doing something that requires being stopped, reprimanded or even ticketed, they can approach you without as much uncertainty. You also know them as well. Dang…..its officer Whosit and man did I screw up. How embarrassing…everyone is going to know at coffee tomorrow. They also know who the baddies in the area are and know to react accordingly. We aren’t Mayberry either and there are some significant problems (mostly drug related and illegal alien gang member related)
The sheriffs and highway patrol officers have some routine stops for coffee and yes probably donuts, but this gives them and the citizens a chance to interact, talk and joke around with each other. There is one patrol officer who routinely meets with the guys at a local realty office in the morning before starting his day. The Good ‘Ole Boys starting the day. They all shoot the sh%t and discuss politics.
Their kids go to the same schools and we all sit and yell together at the football and baseball games. Attend 4H functions. Junior Rodeo. FFA.
I know this isn’t as possible in a bigger city on the level that we enjoy out in bumfark rural America…….. but there should be some sort of outreach between community and police to generate a “getting to know you” program. It would really help.
Update: all the officers are under investigation, but there has been no mention of whether they had active body cameras, which would give a close up view of the encounter. Thank goodness we at least have arial footage. The description of the beating sounds really disturbing, and I’m glad they’re investigating.
Also, the horse was apparently injured during the thief’s ride over rough ground. Hopefully he didn’t lame him. We have family who live in Apple Valley. The surrounding area is pretty dry and there are a lot of rattlers. I wonder what the usual protocol is for pursuit in the desert, because ATVs would be better than on foot.
http://www.pe.com/articles/search-764322-suspect-bachman.html
The disconnect between cops and the community is @ the core of the problem. Madison does community policing, which does help. That does not stop the grievance culture for screaming about a shooting. The screaming in Madison has subsided when it was learned the deceased was hallucinating madly on mushrooms. A suspect hallucinating, on PCP, etc. is one of a cops worst nightmares. Of course, this is a red meat cop hate fest, so I’m sorry for humanizing them and speaking about their problems.
Pogo,
Straw man? Nope. A “straw man” is an argument that nobody is making save the person arguing against it and is made solely for the purpose of tearing the argument down.
From the Walter Scott thread:
Given that I’ve seen tons of your comments every time I’ve ever visited this site, I’m pretty sure you’re here all the time and have read many dozens more comments like these.
Thanks for admitting that these excuses have been “handily defeated,” but it wasn’t me. It was the video.
Karen, I didn’t know about your writing project. If you want to confer w/ a fellow writer, I can put you in touch w/ my bride. She wrote a children’s book for the at risk kids she tutors. It wasn’t published, Shutterfly did the printing. She gave the copies to the kids. Create Space and Amazon also do economical printing.
Karen,
Humanizing helps both sides.
Pogo – I can’t find the article, but I read a really good piece about a precinct’s community outreach efforts. They had the cops give out their work cell #s to residents of their beat. They went to schools and talked to the kids, attended neighborhood meetings, and basically really got to know the people there. Instead of just being “some cop” they couldn’t trust, that was “Bob” the guy they’ve talked to a dozen times. The neighborhood had a real crime problem, and an attitude where no one ever sees anything or calls the cops. This really turned things around, both for the cops and the residents, and had a really positive impact. It gave the message that the cops wanted to help the community. And it allowed the cops to get to know people whereas in such a high crime area, they would have just viewed everyone with distrust and tension.
USN420 – great post. Body cameras are a great idea.
“…when only the bad stories are covered, it tars all the good and honest cops out there who put themselves in danger every day ”
…and makes ordinary citizens leery of interacting with LEOs, even when they need assistance.
Pogo – thanks. I’m working on a few children’s books about animals, myself. 🙂
They’re punishing him for defying their authority by running away, the same as in the Walter Scott case. I don’t think the Feds will pursue civil rights charges because the victim is white, but he can file a civil lawsuit in state court and the county will settle with him. Good news, at least they didn’t beat the horse.
fiver – I couldn’t watch the video of the beating, but if it was unjustified, then all the cops are in trouble because no one stopped it. When cops do get charged, those who were present and failed to intervene are included.
Statistically, the vast number of arrests do not create unjustified beatings. It is good to shine a disinfecting spotlight on police wrongdoing, and root it out. My concern is that when only the bad stories are covered, it tars all the good and honest cops out there who put themselves in danger every day to protect the public.
Unfortunately, the police seem incapable of following their constitutional oaths and the law in not beating the shit out of people, invading their privacy, and shooting them in the back. Until some are treated the same as everyone else and sent to prison for a long time committing such crimes, I doubt it will change.
Irony… The actions of certain criminals over the years have lead to profiling and stereotyping by law enforcement… Now the actions of certain law enforcement criminals are resulting in profiling and stereotyping by the citizens they are paid to protect & serve.
The advent and proliferation of portable video cameras in most cell phones are shedding light on some uncomfortable situations for law enforcement. This is a great development and may provide the impetus for some positive changes.
Unfortunately, the actions of what I think an overall small minority of police officers causes me to think it is time for mandatory body cams to offer another level of scrutiny for both police and citizenry.
Criminals doing stupid things place law enforcement personnel in danger every day they are on the job, but that in no way authorizes the police to respond in an unlawful manner themselves.
Every day in this country there are literally thousands of interactions between the public and law enforcement. The vast majority of these interactions are peaceful and without incident. However, some escalate to life threatening levels. Sometimes at the fault of the public citizen, sometimes at the fault of law enforcement.
The sunshine provided via cameras will ultimately protect both public and police.
I am very troubled by States (Illinois where I live is one of them.) who have public policies forbidding citizens from filming police. It is largely ignored in application, but as a public policy the police here are against filming… Makes me seriously want to know… Why?
Several police officers I have spoken to are good, professional public servants and are 100% in favor of cameras. It seems to be the Police Unions who are against them.
I was able to watch the first almost minute of the video. He fell off because the horse shied at the helicopter. That’s a really mellow horse, because it passed fairly close by the helicopter before spooking when it got in front. I can’t believe a helicopter close by didn’t spook it into a bolt, with just a green rider astride, right off the bat.
Tell most horse people, hey put a beginner rider on one of your horses and ride up to that helicopter, and they would just fall over laughing. And he absolutely did not know how to ride. You could see daylight between his legs and the horse.
I couldn’t see the beating. I wonder if the cops were wearing body cameras. As DBQ pointed out, you would think the cops would be aware they were being filmed with all the news helicopters. Police chases are a spectator sport here. For them to beat a suspect is dumbfounding. Plus, he’s on foot in a desert. It’s really dry out there. They had helicopters. There are no trees, just brush. He’s not going anywhere. If he wanted to run, I’d say, “Have a good time. I’ll just be sipping cold ice tea, and will get a ride to where you collapse.”
“authority worshipers look for some excuse”
In which fiver handily defeats yet another straw man.
Max–
Playing “Hide-the-suspect” is so common it’s almost SOP, even when they don’t go to the hospital, they shuffle them between holding facilities. They’re trying to keep them away from A) Legal representation (because the police hate the 6th Amendment) B) Family that might lend them moral support C) When it is a hospital, they want to keep anyone with a camera away so there’s less evidence of how horrific the violence was (they failed at this in the Kelly Thomas case, and that one actually led to charges)
Vicki Hearne wroteessays on the relation of humans to domestic animals, and was a professional trainer of both dogs and horses,
Still waiting for those who claim that if a citizen just obeys an officer everything will be fine. Here, his getting face-down on the ground and putting his hands behind his back was just an invitation for all cops to begin their beat down.
Also waiting for the “it’s only a few bad apples” crowd to point out all the good cops who stopped the beating and arrested the officers involved.
No matter what the video shows, authority worshipers look for some excuse. Well, the more video that comes out, the more difficult that’s getting to be.