A Venice skateboarder who was allegedly beaten by Los Angeles police officers brought new details to the table on Tuesday, stating that he thought he was “going to die” as he was punched in the head numerous times.
A cellphone video shows four Los Angeles police officers on top of 20 year old Ronald Weekley Jr. in the Saturday incident. Three of the officers accused wrestled him to the ground, a fourth appears to punch Weekley in the face repeatedly.
Weekley, who is African American and a chemistry major at Xavier University in Louisiana, said “I was opening the door to my apartment when I was attacked from behind. They grabbed my hair and my back and tried to smash my face into the ground. I started screaming and yelling because I thought I was going to die.” He continued “The next thing I remember was being in the back of the car, asking ‘Why me? Why did I get stopped?'”
An officer called Weekley a “dumb ass” and told him he hadn’t stopped at a stop sign, Weekley’s attorney said.
According to Cmdr. Andrew Smith, officers tried to stop Weekley on Saturday evening because he was riding his skateboard on the wrong side of the street. He attempted to flee, Smith said, and officers used force to subdue and handcuff him.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s internal affairs unit is investigating the allegations.
Benjamin Crump, who is Weekley’s attorney, just so happens to be the attorney for the family of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen who was shot earlier this year by George Zimmerman.
What do you think about this? Were the cops justified? I just don’t understand why punching someone in the face repeatedly is necessary to subdue one man, when there are 4 officers there, but that’s just my opinion. Seems like just another case of officers taking there position of authority one step too far. Please comment below, always nice to hear from all sides.
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