WMCTV Memphis reports
Video obtained by Action News 5 shows a Memphis police officer beating a suspect at 201 Poplar in an apparent case of police brutality.
The video, recorded February 12th, shows Duanna Johnson in the booking area at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center after an arrest for prostitution. The tape clearly shows a Memphis police officer walk over to Johnson - a transsexual - and hit her in the face several times.
"Actually he was trying to get me to come over to where he was, and I responded by telling him that wasn't my name - that my mother didn't name me a 'faggot' or a 'he-she,' so he got upset and approached me. And that's when it started," Johnson said.
Johnson said the officer was attempting to call her over to be fingerprinted. She said she chose not respond to the derogatory name the officer called her.
"He
said, 'I'm telling you, I'm giving you one more chance to get up.' So
I'm looking at him, and he started putting his gloves on, and seen him
take out a pair of handcuffs," Johnson said.
Video here
Thanks to Jonathan Turley
There needs to be a nationwide response group for police brutality incidents like this.
Police cannot be allowed to run roughshod over our civil liberties. It's time they had a stern reminder of who pays their paychecks.
I'm sure you'll get a hundred comments now about how all cops are heroes and they're putting their lives on the line and we should just do what they tell us for freedom and if cops aren't allowed to call people faggots then the terrorists have won.
... cops are just as capable of being ass full of shit as everyone else, couple that with the power of their position ... and the FACT that our court system will only stop such behavior AFTER THE FACT through a private action (if you can make it to court)
... and cops will try and justify anything afterwards, even if you were resisting brutal treatment it could be seen as "resisting arrest" or "assaulting an officer"