An Internal Affairs investigation has been launched over a YouTube video that shows a 29-year-old man getting walloped repeatedly by a baton-wielding cop in West Philadelphia on Friday.
Police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said last night that Internal Affairs investigators are examining the video, which shows two and a half minutes of an encounter that cops had with Askira Sabur outside a takeout shop at 55th Street and Lansdowne Avenue. (Click here to view the video.)
Vanore said Sabur was among a group of men who were asked by a pair of patrol cops to leave the corner. Sabur instead allegedly knocked one of the cops to the ground, he said, although that portion of the encounter is not shown on the YouTube video.
Sabur's attorney, Evan Hughes, said Sabur didn't knock down the officer. "This guy was standing on the street corner, talking to his cousin," he said. "They tell him to get off the corner, and one cop pushes him on top of another cop."
From there, the incident appeared to turn ugly. One officer is shown on YouTube repeatedly striking Sabur in the head, back and arms while a crowd of onlookers howls in protest. The same officer is shown pulling out his handgun and briefly gesturing towards the crowd with the weapon before shoving it back into his holster. At least three other cops are shown hovering around Sabur during the incident.
Vanore said Sabur bit another officer and tried to grab the cop's gun during a brief struggle; he was later charged with aggravated assault and related offenses. There was likely more to the story, Vanore added, than what was shown on the brief video.
Sabur suffered a broken arm and needed numerous staples to close gashes on the back of his head after his encounter with police, his attorney said.
"If he tried to grab a gun, they would have shot him," Hughes said. "They're trying to justify this, and come up with things that he did not do."
Sabur, of Conestoga Street near Media, was sentenced to five years of probation in 2002 on an attempted burglary charge, court records show.
"He's not a bad guy," Hughes said. "They could have killed him. Lucky for him they didn't, but they certainly got close."
I dont feel safe around Phila PD— ProudRepublican- I feel safe. It's about time they start smacking down!— pbphila
- All he had to do was what he was told, instead he keeps on as he was while saying I didn't do anything. The cops have a tough job (everyday) and you can see they're surrounded by hood as usual, being condemed as usual while trying to cuff and apprehend somebody who won't even put his hands behind him. If he had parents growing up who taught him and disciplined him early in life, the cops wouldn't need to do it now. I hate West & NE Philly anymore and section 8 period, where did my city go? It's just a jungle now, hail to the cops for doing what they do and only a small faction have been corrupted like any other, it's not the whole force like the rotten hood tries to make it appear!— J-Joe
- i looked at the video and he looks likes he's resisting arrest in my opinion.there is man who seems familiar with him shouting for him to stop. i really don't think this is police brutality. Although getting hit in the head with a baton is brutal...BUT he should of been more cooperative. That one cop did seem to loose it a little...But "it's a hard knock life" litterally for some.— Beauty
- That's what happens when you want to put on a show for your friends. Now he's got rep & a nice gash on his head to show for it. In the future do as the cop says and fight it in court. However, I don't think the cops are trained to hit anyone in that head with their baton, but he was clearly resisting arrest.— Codexx
- j-joe father was a cop or he is a cop .......... I bet if the cop gave the guy a fair fight with no baton he would lose . Look at the cops in this city there all overweight fat out of shape. Tell me how a fat cop is gonna catch a bad guy ? he can't he has to beat them while there down . Philadelphia cops = fat boys and fat girls club the one's who got picked on in school now hide behind a badge.— killadelphia
- Leaving out all the racism...I do believe that the perp was resisting arrest. The cop took out his gun and pointed it at the crowd. For that he needs to be disciplined, other than that he's clean.— K.D.
- How long before the police track down and arrest the maker of the video on wiretaping charges? It is happening all over PA and the USA, cops are arresting anyone who tries to tape or record an encounter with the police.— Taxpaying Voter
Comment removed.
He should have cooperated with the police and just moved along. Why start something with the police that only ends up being an ugly incident for everyone? He's old enough to know better. It's not like he's some kid who didn't know better.— wylies99
I think since Rodney King, we all learned to wait for the whole story. Sometimes, "you get what you need".- I watched the video and I'd like to know why some of those cops are so overweight. A couple are bordering on obese. I don't think the taxpayers of this city are getting our monies worth paying their salaries. How can they be that heavy and chase a criminal? Or do any of the other many physical requirements of the job? I certainly wouldn't want to be their partner. Talk about carrying someones weight! They should be made to walk a beat until the weight comes off. Or take a leave of absense just like any other disability that hinders job action. Isn't there standards they need to adhere to? A yearly physical? If not, there needs to be. But then again, look at the commish.— iodine
- LOL he got owned— NRA AL
Those police were grossly overweight! Does Philly PD have any physical standards? Not just from a performance standpoint, but health and workman's comp, the obese people in that video are going to be a financial liability.- It's amazing how many of these videos never show the initial provocation. Well maybe they do, in their original form.— ATP1
Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.
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Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.
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Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.
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Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.
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