Video Shows Seattle Cop Kicking Suspect in the Groin, Say Sources

[Newsjock]

Source: The Stranger

A video not yet available to the public shows a Seattle Police officer kicking a man in the groin even though he had his hands up and wasn't a threat to the officers, according to sources speaking to The Stranger. Police were looking for the perpetrator of a nearby assault on 2nd Avenue, but it's unclear if the man kicked by the officers was the assailant.

"We have a copy of the video," Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, a spokesman for the Seattle Police Department, confirms when asked about the incident. He could not provide details of what the video shows but confirmed it shows "kicking."

... KIRO television’s news director Todd Mokhtari says his station originally obtained a copy of the video earlier this week and gave it to police. “We were going to run it tomorrow,” so that police could take a day to review the footage, Mokhtari says, “but now we are going to run it tonight.”

Mokhtari has not watched the video, but according to his staff, he says, it shows officers searching for a man who, as several media outlets reported, punched an undercover cop attempting to make a narcotics arrest on October 18. In the course of looking for the suspect downtown, the officers entered a store. The video reportedly shows the officer, one with a gun drawn, approach a young African American man “and they kick him a few times,” he says. “The guy is standing there not doing anything,” Mokhtari adds, based on what he has heard about the video.

Read more: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/11/17/video-shows-spd-officer-kicking-suspect-officials-scramble-to-do-damage-control

[sarcasmo]

1. TSA can grab you're Junk and cops can kick you in the Junk. What a country.

[jancantor]

2. I've seen the video. No question to me. It's unjustified

Assuming arguendo the cop had reasonable suspicion or probable cause, it is still a totally unjustified use of force. Based on the video, in addition to the force being unjustified, it also looks like they got the wrong guy.