Birmingham, Alabama, police fired for beating an unconscious suspect

May 20, 1:12 PMCivil Liberties ExaminerJ.D. Tuccille

Previous Next

41 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Civil Liberties Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

To me, the most telling detail in this report of out-of-control police rage is the following tidbit from The Birmingham News blog:

In fact, investigators say, the suspect, Anthony Warren, didn't even know he'd been beaten until the tape surfaced at his trial in March. Warren was ejected from the vehicle and knocked unconscious, and thought all of his injuries were sustained in the wreck.

Imagine a man already so stunned by a car wreck that he was too far gone to realize that he was being beaten with fists, feet and billy clubs. He was probably -- I'm speculating here -- no longer a threat to anybody at this point.

Yes, the suspect led police on a chase. Yes, he apparently almost ran over a police officer (you can see the close call in the video below), but at the time of the beating, he was more akin to a sack of potatoes than to a dangerous felon.

Ultimately, five police officers were fired for the January 2008 beating.

Incidentally, the high-speed, multi-city car chase along busy roads that ended in a messy crash and a career-ending melee began with ... questions about drug use. That's right, police apparently pulled Warren over, started asking probing questions about potential violations of draconian laws against peaceful use of intoxicating substances, and Warren panicked. That sparked the 22-minute chase that endangered motorists, put officers' lives on the line and resulted in the brutal beating of a man so deeply unconscious that he was unaware of the whole thing.

Drug prohibition is all for our own good, don't you know.

email J.D.: civilliberties (at) tuccille.com