Two Laurel, Mississippi police officers were terminated after being accused of viciously beating a man who turned around to avoid a police checkpoint.
James Barnett, 36, was chased by officers after he reached a vehicle checkpoint and turned around. Police chased Barnett down and pulled him over, then officers ran up to his vehicle with their guns drawn, reported ABC News.
Officers ordered Barnett to the ground, and he complied, but Barnett said being compliant did not stop the officers from repeatedly kicking him in the head and face with steel toe boots.
“I wouldn’t wish this on NOBODY!! One even had the nerve to ask me how did those steel toes feel boy, trying to get a rise out of me, but I just laid there and prayed!!” Barnett wrote in a Facebook post. “I’ve never been so afraid in my life, 6 white cops surrounded my bed taunting me as if the assault wasnt enough!! I will not let this go, I dont this to happen to anyone else. There is no justice in what they did to me!! But I will get JUSTICE!!”
Barnett also said that after officers took him to South Central Regional Medical Center, he was beaten even more.
The officers chose to charge him with 5 misdemeanors, including resisting arrest and driving on a suspended license.
Laurel police Capt. Tommy Cox said that a supervisor believed it was obvious there was a problem with how the officers handled the arrest, and he handed the case over to internal affairs, who started an investigation only hours after the beating. The unnamed officers were fired the next day.
The police department says it has been in contact with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation to investigate charges against the officers.
“The Officers and Administration of LPD take these types of allegations very seriously,” the LPD said in a statement to ABC News. “It should be noted that the [internal affairs invesigation] was initiated only hours after the incident occurred before any media attention, social media posts or even a formal complaint from the individual involved.”
Source: http://truthfight.com/mississippi-cops-fired-repeatedly-kicking-man-face/