Police misconduct has been a fixture in the news over the past year between the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the death of Eric Garner in New York, and most recently, the slaying of Walter Scott in South Carolina. These incidents have understandably led to increased public scrutiny of law enforcement and piqued the nation’s interest in footage of police on the job.
Today we bring you the following two videos, the first of which shows what can happen when you decide to evade arrest on horseback in San Bernardino and the second depicts a fatal clash between officers and a mostly invincible, eight member, family Christian band living out of their Chevy Suburban in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
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From CBS [4]:
Aerial footage from Los Angeles station KNBC shows Francis Pusok, 30, on horseback, fleeing from San Bernardino County deputies in California. It also appears to show those deputies using a Taser and beating Pusok on the ground.
Authorities have yet to say whether the man seen in the video was armed, but after seeing the footage, the city's sheriff admitted that what he saw was "disturbing." A criminal investigation has been launched, reports CBS News correspondent Carter Evans.
Deputies are seen firing Tasers, bringing Pusok down.
"Suspect being tased. Suspect being tased," deputies can be heard saying.
While on the ground, two deputies appear to unleash a fury of kicks, knees and punches to Pusok's head and body with his face down and hands behind his back.
More deputies arrive and the beating continues. Over nearly two minutes, Pusok is struck more than 50 times.
Deputies said they were trying to serve a search warrant on Pusok for identity theft, but he ran away from them, stole a horse and led them on a two hour chase near the Deep Creek area of Apple Valley.
Here's the clip (note the amusing commentary from the reporter: "...two down deputies, but I'm not going to worry about them now because I've got this guy on a stolen horse")
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Here's LiveLeak [5] describing what went wrong when officers confronted the Gavers in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Cottonwood, Arizona:
Video from the dashboard camera of a Cottonwood Police Department cruiser showed a close-knit Idaho family that appeared nearly invulnerable to stun guns, police batons and fists during a melee in a Walmart parking lot March 21 in which one person was killed and one officer wounded by a gunshot.
Four officers arrived at the Walmart after employees called about one of the Boise, ID, family members pushing an employee to the ground outside one of the store's bathrooms.
The family had gathered outside their older model Chevrolet Suburban when officers arrived. The confrontation started when one of the officers said they would split up the family to talk with them about what happened inside the store, Fanning said.
The family utilized tactics that had to be "taught," Fanning said. For instance, they knew that punching officers on the body was futile because of their protective vests. Instead, the fought officers by grabbing at their eyes, ears and mouths and pulling hard.
They also had been taught to roll after they were shot with stun guns in order to break the wires and stop the shock, and to appear to give up by putting their hands in the air in order to get close to attack again. The family refused orders to "get on the ground" and eventually overpowered Daniels. Two of the suspects, including Enoch Graver, battled the officer for his gun, which went off and wounded him in the leg.
Four more officers arrived and Enoch Graver, 21, was shot to death and his 18-year-old brother David Graver was shot in the abdomen.
Even with eight officers on the scene, nothing the officers tried appeared to stop the family, including the use of stun guns, pepper spray and police batons. In almost every instance, the suspects continued to fight the officers. Fanning said to four people to get one of the brothers in handcuffs and two officers to get the remaining male suspects in cuffs.
The family included the father and sons Jeremiah, 29; Nathaniel, 27; David, Enoch; a 15-year-old boy; mother Ruth Gaver, 52; and an 11-year-old girl.
All were living out of the Chevrolet Suburban and were members of a traveling band called Matthew 24 Now, a reference to a Bible verse dealing with the end of times.
The band's Facebook page is rife with Biblical references.
