A white Washington DC police officer, who was caught on camera punching a Black man several times, has been placed on administrative leave. The clip, which has gone viral on social media, showed the cop punching a black man multiple times as two other officers try to restrain the alleged suspect. Any officer can be seen protecting his colleagues from the crowd. Throughout the video, neither of the cops appear to stop the officer from punching the man.
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In a press conference, DC Police Chief Robert Contee said the viral video has been referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for prosecutorial consideration and that the officer who was punching the man has been placed on administrative leave.
“While getting illegal firearms is a priority for safer communities, this is not the way we train our members to get illegal firearms off the streets. MPD prides itself on treating everyone with respect, even when we are recovering guns and taking some of our most violent criminals off of our streets, it will be done Constitutionally and respectfully,” Chief Contee said.
The video has since triggered an outrage, with several leaders coming forward to condemn it.
Calling the video “disturbing,” at-Large Council member Robert White said, “It’s the type of thing that we have seen too many times. But when I reached out to Chief Contee, he immediately let me know that he was going to push for accountability, and that the video made him angry as well, and that he saw it as unacceptable.”
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Council member Charles Allen, who represents Ward 6 and chairs the Public Safety Commission, said, “I think Chief Contee came out strong today and really spoke to how damaging this is. I think he certainly wants to see accountability for his own officer. … But I think the chief also understands that this act by this one officer does damage to all of us, it does damage to every other officer out there, it damages community relationships, it damages the efforts to rebuild the community relationships. So I think that the chief understands how serious this is.”
