Thursday, February 12, 2009

Two Officers Argue while Wounded, Handcuffed Suspect Bleeds on the Ground

A YouTube video purportedly showing a wounded, handcuffed suspect bleeding on the ground as two Philadelphia police officers argue nearby has sparked a federal investigation.

The 59-second clip captures an explicit verbal exchange between a female sergeant and a male highway patrol officer shortly after Marcus Henderson was allegedly shot by cops, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.

The Internal Affairs Division, which the paper said announced plans to investigate, has not identified the officers in the video. The clip has been removed from file-sharing Web site YouTube.

The female sergeant, a supervisor, reportedly shouts instructions at the patrol officer about what to do with the suspect.

"Don't tell me what to do! He's f——— shot! He's going to a hospital!" the sergeant screams, according to the News.

The officer yells back that Henderson aimed a gun at his partner.

"I'm not telling you what to do!" he retorts. "I'm telling you what happened!"

Witnesses told MyFOXPhilly.com that the officer resisted her orders because he didn’t want to put the wounded man in his patrol car.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told the News that a primary focus of the investigation isn't the officers' dispute — it's reports from witnesses that the male officer kicked the wounded suspect while he was on the ground bleeding and refused to use his patrol car to drive Henderson, 35, to the hospital.

"It doesn't look good," Ramsey told the paper. "We're concerned about it. It's probably just a misunderstanding, but we’re looking at it."

Henderson, who was eventually taken to the hospital with wounds to the arm and torso, is recovering behind bars until a Feb. 18 preliminary hearing.

He reportedly pointed a 9mm handgun at police twice, according to the News.

"The suspect was writhing around," the YouTube video photographer's brother told the paper. "It looked like he had been shot in his body, but he managed to get up on his knees."

Internal Affairs Chief Inspector Anthony DiLacqua said witnesses will be interviewed this week.

"We’ll get to the bottom of it," he told the News.

Click here for more on this story from MyFOXPhilly.com

Click here for more on this story from Philly.com.

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