News One is reporting that a videotape of the brutal beating doled out to then-burglary suspect Chad Holley has been released. Holley, who was 15 years old at the time of the crime, was running from police when he was hit by a cruiser, when he surrendered. As he lay on the ground motionless with his arms behind his head, police officers surrounded the boy, stomping and kicking him mercilessly in the head and chest. Even after the boy was handcuffed, police officers continued beating the boy.
The incident was caught on tape, but the tape was ruled inadmissible during Holley's trial ,for which he was convicted of burglary in July 2010. The judge did not want to prejudice jurors in the upcoming trial of the police officers, four of whom were indicted on official oppression charges and fired after the surveillance tape surfaced. The tape was subsequently released to the media by the Houston NAACP.
Holley has now filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that HPD officers beat him during his March 23 arrest. Some will say you get what you deserve when you're caught stealing. Others will say that the police officers went too far, especially for a boy who had actually surrendered. Watch the tape and you decide. Warning: The violence in this tape is graphic.
Read more at News One.
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