As blksista informs us in her diary, New Orleans beating incident only one example of abuse and forced labor since Katrina”, AP has released a full-length version of video of the arrest of 64 year old Robert Davis in New Orleans.
Warning: The video is very difficult to watch.
Faced with that video tonite on CNN’s Aaron Brown show NewsNight, responding to some very tough questioning by Brown and Anderson Cooper (transcript), the NOPD officers’ lawyer Frank DeSalvo continued to assert that the officers acted properly given the situation. The only point that he conceded was the fact that, contrary to what he has maintained to this point – that the fall to the ground caused Davis’s bleeding – the video shows otherwise.
more on the flip…
Further discussion between Brown and CNN’s legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin explored the defense possibility that it does appear that Davis did resist arrest, since his arms remained free until he was down on the ground. However, if Mr Davis was confused as to whether he was actually under arrest at the time the officers pinned him to the wall and punched him in the back of the head 4 times, he could well have become oblivious as to what was really happening. He has stated previously that he doesn’t remember much of anything after being punched.
As we know with cases like this where video is involved, we can’t prejudge what a jury might ultimately determine and this new video will provide much fodder for the defense and prosecution camps.
