Police beating of Maryland student caught on video

[Hannah Bell]

Police officers from Prince George’s County, Maryland, savagely beat an unarmed University of Maryland student on March 3. The attack came to light on April 12 when a video of the incident was released by the family of the student, John McKenna. The video, which was taken by a fellow student and uncovered by a detective working for McKenna’s family, can be viewed on YouTube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A0n2qMxf0c

McKenna, 21, sustained head injuries resulting in a concussion. He required eight stitches and was badly bruised all over his body...

Celebrating a win by the University of Maryland basketball team, McKenna and dozens of other students were reveling in the street, while heavily armed police on horseback and in riot gear waited nearby. The police originally claimed that McKenna and Donat had assaulted an officer and struck at police horses. The documents charging them stated that the two youths sustained injuries as a result of being inadvertently kicked by the horses.

The contents of the video directly contradict the police account of the incident. In fact, McKenna did not attack the police and was not acting in an aggressive or threatening manner. Rather, having approached an officer on horseback, he was then slammed into a wall by another riot-gear-clad officer on foot, before being repeatedly beaten with clubs by three cops while lying defenseless on the ground...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/apr2010/mary-a24.shtml