(Video) NY Cops caught on tape brutally beating teen:excessive policing?

By Veronica Roberts

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The above video shows several New York City cops from the 42nd Precinct in Tremont, Bronx, brutally beating a teenage boy on the streets as bystanders shout at them to stop.

The victim is 19-year old Jatiek Reed and according to the NY Post, is currently being held at Rikers Island on several assault charges. Police also claim he had drugs, but no drugs were reportedly found. The cops claim Reed stashed away the drugs and was resisting arrest when the beating occurred.

Onlookers say the drugs story was fabricated and that the police were abusing their authority when they all pounced on Reed with batons. The young man who video-taped the incident was shouted at by police to "move back!"

The three police officers guns and badges were reportedly taken away, pending an investigation into the beating by the Police Department and District Attorney Robert Johnson.

Meanwhile the young man's mother Schuan said her son has staples in his head, plus a black and blue back from the vicious beating, adding, he was beaten "like a slave" and that people "went to jail for beating a dog like that so the cops should go to jail too."

What do you think: police brutality or reasonable force?