The Rev. Al Sharpton came to a city prison Sunday to visit one of the three victims of a videotaped police beating, saying afterward that the man is still in pain and does not know why officers were chasing him.
Sharpton said the visit was meant to be a "fact-finding mission" and to ensure that Dwayne Dyches saw his mother on Mother's Day. Leomia Dyches, her son and Sharpton talked and prayed for about an hour at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, the civil-rights leader said.
"He is still not totally aware of what happened, he is totally at a loss as to why he is in this situation," Sharpton said. "He said, 'Reverend, I'm no angel, but I didn't deserve this.'"
Thirteen officers have been taken off street duty as police investigate the beatings, which were captured on tape by a television news helicopter Monday. Police said they had been pursing the men in connection with a triple shooting.
The three men - Brian Hall, 23, Pete Hopkins, 19, and Dyches, 24, all of Philadelphia - have been charged with attempted murder and related counts stemming from the shooting. But their attorneys have said they had nothing to do with it.
One of Dyches' attorneys said he suffered a welt on his head the size of a baseball and that one of his legs was seriously injured.
The video shows officers pulling the men out of the car and then kicking, punching and beating them. "When they were banging on the glass, (Dyches) thought they were being shot at," Sharpton said.
The beating occurred at the same time police were conducting an intense manhunt for a suspect in the slaying of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski last weekend.
Sharpton had previously said the beatings were "worse than Rodney King," a reference to the black man beaten by white Los Angeles police officers after a 1991 traffic stop.
But he was more conciliatory on Sunday, saying the city needed to be outraged over both Liczbinski's slaying and the beatings.
"There must be a balanced reaction of outrage in this situation," he said, adding that Dyches' family has not decided whether to take legal action. "We must call on the city to deal fairly and equitably with both situations."
Leomia Dyches said the beatings left her traumatized, adding she can't even stand to hear police sirens anymore.
"He's a good son. He might have had some problems, but he wouldn't hurt anyone," she said after Sunday's visit. "I'm hurting inside, but I know I have to stand up and fight for my son."
A white police officer was disciplined for acting "in a discourteous manner" when he confronted a black motorist who turned out to be one of the highest-ranking commanders in the New York City Police Department, an agency spokesman said Saturday.
Attorneys for three men beaten by Philadelphia police claim the officers concocted a story that the trio were shooting suspects to cover up a case of mistaken identity - an allegation police vehemently deny.
Gov. David Paterson pledged to examine undercover police conduct on Thursday, a day after more than 200 people were arrested protesting the acquittal of three detectives involved in the shooting death of an unarmed man.
Seven more police officers were taken off street duty Thursday as investigators look into the videotaped police beating of three shooting suspects during a traffic stop.
The Rev. Al Sharpton called a videotaped police beating of three shooting suspects in Philadelphia "worse than Rodney King," prompting the city's police commissioner to chide anyone "fanning flames ... from afar."
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