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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the July 27, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
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AS ANTI-BUSH PROTESTERS CONVERGE ON PHILLY, POLICE
TERROR SPURS OUTRAGE
By Betsey Piette
Philadelphia
Outrage over the vicious police beating of Thomas Jones, an
African American man, has rocked Philadelphia. The beating
was filmed and broadcast live by a local television news
helicopter July 12 and seen around the world.
Scores of protesters turned out for a demonstration
against police brutality June 14, including Jones' fianc�e
Victoria Bryant.
Jones' stepfather, Ernest Jacobs, said of the police:
"They spend all this money on training. It looked like they
were trying to kill him. Photos don't lie."
Talk show hosts from African American radio stations WHAT-
AM and WPHT-AM reported that their telephone lines were
choked with angry callers.
"Many in our community have experienced excessive
treatment by law enforcement," said WHAT General Manager
Christopher Squire. "History plays a part, and you can't
forget history."
The attack on Jones is part of a long history of
Philadelphia police violence that includes the 1981
shooting of Black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was then
framed for killing a cop, and the 1985 bombing of the MOVE
Organization.
City officials are trying to do damage control. The
racist, lynch-mob-style attack on Jones couldn't have come
at a worse time for them. The much-ballyhooed Republican
National Convention is set to open here July 31.
A total of 59 blows--including 46 kicks and an assault
with a radio--were delivered by the police mob in just 29
seconds. Before the beating, Jones had also been shot five
times in his arm and side.
As of July 18 no cops have been charged or even suspended
for the assault. However, District Attorney Lynn Abraham
has charged Jones with at least 20 crimes, including
attempted murder, aggravated assault, simple assault and
robbery.
Two of the cops who assaulted Jones, Michael Livewell and
Lawrence McKenny, are defendants in a federal civil-rights
lawsuit. They stand accused of harassing Kareem Glass and
his family, who are African American, in an attempt to make
them drop an earlier lawsuit stemming from their beating of
Glass in 1995.
Glass, who was then 15, sustained irreparable brain damage
from the beating.
The police have tried to whitewash their actions by
demonizing Jones. They claim that he shot a police officer
and that he "must have been on drugs."
Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney had to admit
that police couldn't locate the weapon Jones allegedly used
to shoot a cop in the hand. One officer told the
Philadelphia Daily News that "it could have been friendly
fire."
There's no evidence that Jones fired a gun. Police claim
they couldn't do residue tests on Jones' hands.
Yet two days after the beating, police claimed to have
found a crack pipe in Jones' abandoned car and other drug
paraphernalia nearby. Police reportedly took blood from
Jones in the hospital for drug tests. No results have been
released.
`NO GUN,' WITNESSES SAY
Witnesses described the band of police pursuing Jones as
"frantic." Patrol cars careened through the streets of
North Philadelphia, narrowly missing children as they
chased Jones to the intersection of 17th and France
streets.
There Jones abandoned his car and ran. Cops chased him and
hit him with pepper spray.
Police claim that Jones was carrying a gun in one hand.
But witnesses report that he scaled a seven-foot metal
fence using both hands. Others said Jones raised both hands
in the air to surrender, contrary to police statements.
Four or five uniformed police began kicking and punching
Jones, who was standing and trying to protect his face.
Again, witnesses said his hands were empty.
Next the cops pushed Jones into a police car. That's when
police claim Jones bit one officer and shot another in the
hand. But several witnesses insist Jones still had no gun.
People who knew Jones also challenged the report that he
had a gun.
Jones managed to get behind the wheel of the idling police
car and took off. Ten cops opened fire, spraying at least
43 shots. Some narrowly missed bystanders.
Cops chased the wounded Jones again to 26th and Oxford
streets. After they pulled him from the car, ten police
kicked and punched Jones while over a dozen others
surrounded them and joined in the malicious brutality.
- END -
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