A Columbia, S. C., police
officer is under fire after a video surfaced of him beating a suspect over the
weekend.
Tyrone Pugh a South Carolina
police officer, was suspended over the weekend after a video surfaced on social
media, showing him allegedly throwing repeated blows at a man who was lying on
the pavement, according to the State.
The 15-second video shows Pugh
allegedly pummeling a man who is laying on the ground.
The incident reportedly began
about 2 a.m. Sunday in downtown Columbia when about 300 college students
spilled out of a local venue after attending a birthday party and a fight broke
out, the report says. Five off-duty police officers providing security
responded to the scene, the State reports:
A brief cellphone video taken
around 2 a.m. shows a Columbia police officer, his back to the camera, on top
of a man who is lying in the parking lot. He strikes him over and over with
what appears to be his fist and yells, “Stay on the ground!” The young woman
who took the video, identified as Robyn Hogg, is shouting repeatedly, “Why are
you punching him?”
Columbia, S.C., Mayor Steve Benjamin
said the officer was suspended after he spoke to the Police Chief Skip Holbrook
about the video. John O’Leary, a former director of the S.C. Criminal Justice
Academy, said that the incident highlights the importance of police body
cameras, “Body cameras can’t hurt police – it’s just going to reveal the facts,
either good or bad. They will also make the officer think twice before he loses
his temper or overreacts.”
Gerry Hyland killed police oversight after the cops gunned down unarmed citizens...you elected him now toss him out.
