Investigation launched after LA police filmed beating black suspect

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2004

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Police were investigating the televised beating of a black suspect by white policemen in Los Angeles that has resurrected the explosive spectre of the 1991 Rodney King assault.

Several officers have been removed from regular duties following the incident Wednesday in which they were seen tackling a car theft suspect and beating him repeatedly with a metal flashlight.

The beating of the suspect, who was on foot, was caught by a television news helicopter in the city that was rocked by deadly riots in 1992 when the policemen who beat black motorist Rodney King were acquitted of assault.

The Los Angeles Police Department and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation have launched probes into the early morning beating that has outraged members...