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PHILLY MAYOR SAYS RACE NOT A FACTOR IN COP BEATING: Nutter says he's 'tremendously disappointed' in behavior of officers in video.
*The mayor and police commissioner of Philadelphia have called the videotaped beatings of three restrained black men by several officers "inexcusable" and "unacceptable," but both say it had nothing to do with race.
“The conduct was unacceptable,” Mayor Michael Nutter said Thursday while appearing with Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey on CNN's "American Morning." "It did not live up to the professional standards we have set for the police department." He added that the incident has "virtually nothing to do with race; it has to do with crime."
"There’s no excuse for that type of behavior and we certainly want to take action,” said Ramsey.
Nutter said he was “tremendously disappointed” by the officers’ behavior and promised to deal with the matter.
The violent beating, captured on video Monday night (May 5) by a Fox television news crew and broadcast across the nation, shows several police squad cars surrounding a vehicle occupied by three black men. Officers, who appear to be white in the footage, pull each occupant out of the car and proceed to kick and stomp them repeatedly in the head, neck and torso.
A sergeant and five officers have been removed from street duty as authorities investigate the video footage, according to the Associated Press.
On "Good Morning America" Thursday, Police Commissioner Ramsey urged the public to wait until the investigation was completed before jumping to conclusions.
"With all due respect, none of … us were out there. We don't know the circumstances. The video doesn't tell you everything," he said.
The three men who were beaten were suspects in an earlier shooting, Ramsey said.
Tensions were already high within the police department due to the shooting death of an officer the week before. Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski was fatally shot after a robbery, and devastated fellow officers spent the weekend searching for a suspect in that murder.
Ramsey said that Liczbinski's death is no excuse for the actions of the officers caught on tape.
"I understand the emotion," said Ramsey. "I understand everything that's involved, but there's nothing in our policy that would allow kicking individuals and taking them into custody the way I saw on that tape."
Philadelphia Police Officers Beat Suspects
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