Fox29 films Monday night melee

The video of Philadelphia Police officers kicking and stomping three men this week -- while being filmed from a local television station's helicopter -- sparked a memory here at PhillyClout of those halcyon days of 2000 when they city was sprucing up for the start of the Republican National Convention.  Just before the GOP kick-off, a group of police officers were filmed from the helicopter of another local television news station while kicking and stomping Thomas Jones.

Jones, who had been on a cocaine-fueled crime spree that included a car-jacking, purse snatching and the theft of a police patrol car, sued the city in 2001, claiming his civil rights had been violated by the "unreasonable and excessive force" used in his arrest.  The case bounced around in the courts for almost six years, with the city taking its claim that Jones had no right to sue all the way to the state Supreme Court.  But the justices ruled in 2006 that Jones did indeed have a right to sue. The case was ready for trial last July when the city settled with Jones for $85,000.

But don't think Jones, who is now serving an 18- to 36-year stretch in state prison, walked away with all that money.  Three of people he victimized during that crime spree sued him right after he sued the city.  Their case was put on hold while he duked it out with the city.  In March, he settled and agreed to pay the three victims $25,000 each, according to records from the Court of Common Pleas.