Police beat suspect with metal flashlight during arrest

[Bombero1956]

The Police Department is conducting a criminal investigation into the actions of four officers during a traffic stop in which 28-year-old black city man was beaten by a white officer with a flashlight, The Republican has learned.

The incident was caught on video by an anonymous bystander, and the officer shown swinging the flashlight is identified in the arrest report as patrolman Jeffery M. Asher.

During the video you will hear the sound of the metal light hitting the suspect identified as Melvin Jone III in the head at least 15 times. The officer in the video was involved in another incident of police brutality back in 1997.


http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/springfield_police_department_5.html

[PM Martin]

1. k/r

[Bombero1956]

2. besides the fact that he gets beaten so badly that he had to have surgery

is that I work with the officer's father and he isn't remotely like his son. More like the son isn't remotely like his Dad. The dad is a very nice fair man who puts on or Christmas party every year.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. They ALWAYS claim the victim was reaching for their gun. OMG.

[Blue Owl]

4. Sounds just like GOP family values

As in the case of the former Bu$h lawyer that beat his wife with a flashlight (was in the news earlier today)...

[TexasObserver]

5. Recommend

[joeybee12]

6. Nothing to see here...move along....

...you know, as bad as this is, what gets me is that in this day and age an officer can be so dumb as to NOT realize that almost everyone has a cell phone with a camera now.

[Flaneur]

7. Some cops earn the epithet motherfucking pig. Asher looks to be one of them.

He even looks the part. I hope this fucker gets indicted and convicted, and I hope the city of Springfield pays out the nose for not firing this serial beater a decade ago.

[ArmajaDasComatose]

8. It's so good when these sicko sadists get busted on film!

[old mark]

9. Officer Asher has repeatedly beaten people since 1994, the year he graduated from police school.

He has been involved in beating a handcuffed man, and dragging from a car and beating a man in a diabetic seizure. He was suspended for a year without pay, changed to 6 months. He has been the cause of lawsuits against the police and the city and cost them over $200,000 in settlements. He spent time working in the records room because of his violent actions while on street partrol.

Is the chief of police and/or the DA in this town a racist or are they just stupid? Why is this fucking pig still employed in law enforcement?

mark

[ArmajaDasComatose]

10. Guess another pig upstairs prefers the tactics employed by the other pig

Pig, here, being the operative word, indeed.

[Shell Beau]

14. That doesn't even make sense

[ArmajaDasComatose]

19. Speculating as to why his superior keeps him on the force

[dysfunctional press]

11. maglites are designed to be used as billy clubs...

so it's not really a surprise when they are.

[MindPilot]

13. And we all know the slang term for them.

I will not repeat it here.

[EFerrari]

12. Thank you, Bombero.

[spin]

15. I remember one accident scene I was at ...

One the way to work I was just behind a driver of a pickup truck. Another driver turned directly in front of him. He was able to avoid the collision but lost control of the truck and rolled it.

I pulled over to assist as did a police officer who was behind me. We got the driver out of the truck and fortunately he was uninjured.

The police officer was attempting to read the info on the guys driver license wit a small plastic flashlight. I went to my vehicle and got my Maglite flashlight.



The officer commented, "We used to be allowed to carry those, but an officer beat the hell out of some fool with one. Now we have to use these stupid plastic flashlights."

[tblue37]

17. I wonder that it didn't occur to the cop that the fool was the one who beat someone

with the flashlight, not the victim.

[spin]

18. Of course,

The police department involved had low morale and a difficult time hiring police officers.

I knew several officers who had retired from the department. They referred to the officers currently on duty as a bunch of gorillas.

[scubadude]

16. They are called "Tactical Flashlights", pretty apparent what the tactics are... nt

[Mopar151]

20. Ex - military should'nt be our 1st choice for police officers

Asher, a Marine Corps veteran of the Persian Gulf War, has not been without commendation and exemplary service.

I'm sure it's true - but playing hero does'nt always go well, especially when other issues are involved. I cringe whenever a police officer I have to interact with is wearing a military/shaved haircut, and more so when they've "forgotten" to velcro their badge, nametag, or town ID onto their black SWAT-gear.

[Mopar151]

21. Ex - military should'nt be our 1st choice for police officers

Asher, a Marine Corps veteran of the Persian Gulf War, has not been without commendation and exemplary service.

I'm sure it's true - but playing hero does'nt always go well, especially when other issues are involved. I cringe whenever a police officer I have to interact with is wearing a military/shaved haircut, and more so when they've "forgotten" to velcro their badge, nametag, or town ID onto their black SWAT-gear.

[Bombero1956]

22. it is sytemic within this department

He isn't the only officer to have been involved in less than legal activities. Recently 2 officers were tried on charges that they robbed a group of Mexican migrant workers.


A policeman cleaned almost $2,000 out of three men's wallets during a traffic stop last June, according to court records filed in a criminal case against two Springfield patrolmen.

Officers Steven Buzzell and Leonardo Matos were suspended without pay after their indictment on Nov. 21 in Hampden Superior Court. Each faces three counts of larceny, and they are due to be arraigned on Dec. 8.

Police reports obtained by a reporter show that the charges are linked to a traffic stop on June 27 during which Buzzell, on patrol in a marked patrol car, pulled over a car, took the occupants' wallets, and returned them empty.

In this case Buzzell was convicted and sentenced to 4 years in prison. Matos was acquitted but recently resigned rather than submit to a polygraph exam.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/springfield_police_officer_ste_2.html

Then there was the shooting of Benjamin Schoolfield by Officer Donald Brown back in 1994. When he was cleared by a grand jury 200 of his fellow officers held a party to celebrate.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/24/us/a-party-for-a-cleared-police-officer-stirs-up-racial-tension.html?pagewanted=all

How much longer can this sort of behavior be tolerated and how much more money will he cost the city?