Video of Philadelphia Police Stop Called ‘Degrading and Humiliating’
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iStock/Thinkstock(PHILADELPHIA) — The Philadelphia Police Department is reportedly investigating a Youtube video that shows two men being subjected to a stop that has been called “degrading and humiliating.”
The 16-minute video shows two officers stopping two unidentified men after they apparently said hello to a third man on the street.
Startled by the stop, one man told one of the police officers that he was just walking down the street.
“That’s not what I saw,” an unidentified police officer could be heard saying on the video.
One man provided identification while another refused and protested the treatment from the officers.
“Everybody thinks they’re a f**king lawyer, and they don’t know jack s**t!” one of the police officers could be heard saying on the video as the man continued to say he was doing nothing wrong.
The video was titled “Police unlawful harassment and racial profiling,” but the race of the men who were stopped was not clear in the video.
The Philadelphia Police Department told ABC News’ Philadelphia station WPVI that internal affairs was investigating the stop and appropriate action would be taken once the investigation was completed.
Reggie Shuford, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, told ABC News that he had seen the video and found the treatment of the two men to be “degrading and humiliating.”
“Based on our own data from the Philadelphia Police Department, because of a case we filed against them, there is a substantial likelihood there is no legal justification for [the stop],” he said. “Even though Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly Love, what happened in the video is anything but.”
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