Imagine witnessing police officers commanding a K-9 dog to maul a man to death. If you are like most people, you would try to document the murder by recording the incident.
That’s exactly what recently happened in New Jersey, after cops killed a man by mauling him with a police dog. But when by-standards started recording the incident, officers charged at them to confiscate cell phone cameras (scroll down for video).
The Vineland, New Jersey officer who demanded witness cell phones seems to have been unsuccessful in his attempts to confiscate recording devices. Currently, there are two different videos of the incident that have been uploaded to YouTube and released by local media.
PINAC notes there is an additional, “much grainier” video of the incident as well.
News reports seem to have no idea what happens after the officer demanded the footage and recording devices. The videos do not explain either. One could presume that the witnesses made a run for it and got away with the footage. If this is the case, they likely fear coming forward and admitting to evading the officer.
They also might fear retaliation from the officers, since they did witness the officers carry out a murder.
What we know from local media reports is that the victim was Philip White, 32. He tried to protect his face from the dog, and roll on to his stomach. That’s when the lying officer yells “he tried to grab my gun.”
The video clearly shows that never happened.
One lie followed another, as the officers began barking “stop resisting” even though the man was not resisting, he was just trying to avoid being mauled to death by the dog.
A nearby media report from NBC Philadelphia:
“They punched him, stomped him, kicked him and then they let the dog out of the car,” said Ricardo Garcia. “The dog bit him on his face and around his body. There’s no call for that. Once a man is handcuffed and unconscious, you should have stuck him in the patrol car and take him to the police station. Instead they decided to beat him right here.”
Another witness, Luis Martinez, also insisted White wasn’t doing anything wrong and that the officers used excessive force.
“The other cop let the dog out and they just kept punching him and the dog kept biting him at the same time,” Martinez said. “He was on the floor. Like, he was knocked out.”
A dog is heard barking on a police dispatch recording of the incident.
“118 West Grape,” the dispatcher says in the recording. “Subject…hyperventilating. Officers out.”
An officer is also heard on the recording.“Slow all units down,” the officer says. “Subject under…tried disarming me…tried to grab my gun.”
Police have doubled down on the claim that White was “combative.” They also maintain that the murdering officer “serious shoulder injury.”
If that is the case, it is unclear from the video how that happened.
PINAC notes that one commenter in one of the articles says the name of the cop who tried to confiscate the footage is “Officer Traveline.” That poster claims that the officer has a history of filing false police reports.
(Article by M. David and Reagan Ali; image via #Op309 Media; h/t PINAC)
