Thursday, February 5, 2015

Two Philadelphia police officers charged in beating of motor scooter rider

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A grand jury has criminally charged two Philadelphia police officers with knocking a man from his motor scooter, beating him and then falsely accusing him of assault, in the latest case of alleged police misconduct in the United States.
Officers Sean McKnight, 30, and Kevin Robinson, 26, were charged with aggravated assault and related offenses in the May 2013 incident which occurred after a traffic stop in a gritty section of north Philadelphia, said Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams.
The victim, Najee Rivera, said he fled in fear on his scooter after officers exited their vehicle with their batons extended. That, according to Williams, enraged the pursuing officers.
One of them hit Rivera in the head with a baton as their patrol car knocked him off his scooter, prosecutors said.
Rivera was hospitalized with a fractured orbital bone and numerous lacerations to the head. But McKnight and Robinson filed paperwork claiming Rivera attacked them.
Rivera's girlfriend, however, had canvassed the area of the beating, and turned up surveillance video of the beating.
“The video undermined every aspect of the officers' account,” Williams told reporters at a news conference on Thursday. “None of it was true except for the blows inflicted on Najee Rivera.”



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