The FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department are investigating two officers for allegedly beating a man during an arrest last summer that was captured on video and posted on the popular YouTube website. The Los Angeles Times says the video of the Aug. 11 arrest in Hollywood shows an officer sitting on 23-year-old William Cardenas as a second officer places his knee on the man’s neck and punches him six times. Cardenas is lying on his back, waving his arms and yelling, “I can’t breathe!”
Police Chief William J. Bratton identified the first officer as Alexander Schlegel and the second officer, who struck Cardenas, as Patrick Farrell. The chief called the video “disturbing,” but noted it captured only part of the event. Cardenas was charged with resisting officers, and a court commissioner in September found sufficient evidence to try him. The American Civil Liberties Union denounced the officers’ use of force and said it was particularly troubling that the incident came to light only because of the Internet.
Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beating10nov10,0,3138820.story?coll=la-home-headlines