Police beat up shoplifter after hearing her boyfriend is a community activist
Iowa - A Chicago civil rights organization is investigating claims that a mother was unjustly beaten by police officers in Davenport Iowa after she was caught shoplifting....
The incident occurred Feb. 18, 2013, in an interview room inside the Von Maur department store one of five Mississippi River towns along the Illinois-Iowa border that collectively are known as the Quad Cities. The officer escaped criminal charges – and kept his job.
The Better Government Association has obtained chilling video of a male police officer beating a female shoplifting suspect – apparently without provocation – in a mall along the Illinois-Iowa border earlier this year.
The footage – originating from a department store security camera and forwarded to the BGA by a source – shows the much larger officer pummeling the 34-year-old woman in front of her infant daughter. After knocking the woman to the floor, the officer rains numerous blows to her face and head, according to the video, which was authenticated by authorities.
"I was crying and begging him to get off me," Brandie Redell, the woman who was beaten, says in a recent interview with the BGA. Her right eye was injured in the incident, and she says her vision is still impaired.
Police were called after Von Maur employees observed Redell attempting to steal $388 worth of women's clothing, including three tops, one skirt and one dress, according to interviews and public records.
Davenport Police Officer Scott Crow, seen on the video punching Redell, was disciplined for using excessive force, says Police Chief Frank Donchez. He declined to specify the punishment or say if this was Crow's first offense.
Crow was not criminally charged and remains in his $65,580-a-year job. He did not return phone calls from the BGA.
Brandie Redell admits she was shoplifting at a Von Maur store in Davenport, Iowa, back in February, and putting clothes inside her 1-year-old daughter’s stroller...
While store security has Redell turn over the things she’s taken, two Davenport police officers walk in. Redell calls her boyfriend telling him to pick up their daughter. When one of the officer’s hears Redell’s boyfriend’s name, he tells Redell, “This is going to get ugly, real quick.”
Redell’s boyfriend, James Gibson, is a community activist who had done some sensitivity training with the department when it comes to race and officers dealing with the public.
Redell recoiled in fear as one of the officers starts beating her. A store worker left the room quickly carrying Redell’s one-year-old daughter. The beating lasted for one minute and five seconds.....
What happened to the officers?
Following an internal affairs investigation, both officers were disciplined and both are still employed and back on the street, as Davenport, Iowa police officers.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/quad-cities-police-office_n_3720974.html?goback=.gmp_1829117.gde_1829117_member_264276517
http://reason.com/blog/2013/08/06/cops-in-iowa-beat-up-shoplifter-after-he