Karenluvs6
12-29-2000, 11:25 AM
Police-beating T-shirts: Outrageous, or free speech?
Or both? Is punishing the cop who sold them wrong?
A Philadelphia police officer and two captains are in trouble for selling T-shirts that mocked the widely watched videotaped police beating of carjacking suspect Thomas Jones, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Narcotics officer Kenyatta Lee is being moved to a desk job. The captains, who did not stop the T-shirts from being sold outside the 24th District station, are being stripped of their commands.
The shirts, apparently considered an inside joke by officers at the station, infuriated Police Commissioner John F. Timoney and the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, who charge that Jones' arrest is an example of police brutality toward blacks, according to the Inquirer.
The shirts featured "Welcome, America" on the back - quoting a sardonic Daily News headline published after the police beating - and a photograph showing officers beating Jones. The front had a badge referring to the Philadelphia Police Department and the coming Republican National Convention.
Officers snapped them up for $10 each just days after Jones' arrest.
Philadelphia police have been under heavy criticism -- an multiple investigations -- since Jones allegedly shot an officer and led them on a chase last week. Officers shot Jones five times and his violent arrest was filmed by a television helicopter news crew and broadcasted around the world.
Or both? Is punishing the cop who sold them wrong?
A Philadelphia police officer and two captains are in trouble for selling T-shirts that mocked the widely watched videotaped police beating of carjacking suspect Thomas Jones, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Narcotics officer Kenyatta Lee is being moved to a desk job. The captains, who did not stop the T-shirts from being sold outside the 24th District station, are being stripped of their commands.
The shirts, apparently considered an inside joke by officers at the station, infuriated Police Commissioner John F. Timoney and the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, who charge that Jones' arrest is an example of police brutality toward blacks, according to the Inquirer.
The shirts featured "Welcome, America" on the back - quoting a sardonic Daily News headline published after the police beating - and a photograph showing officers beating Jones. The front had a badge referring to the Philadelphia Police Department and the coming Republican National Convention.
Officers snapped them up for $10 each just days after Jones' arrest.
Philadelphia police have been under heavy criticism -- an multiple investigations -- since Jones allegedly shot an officer and led them on a chase last week. Officers shot Jones five times and his violent arrest was filmed by a television helicopter news crew and broadcasted around the world.