A Philadelphia police lieutenant lost his job after 36 seconds of cellphone video that showed him punching a woman in the face after the city's annual Puerto Rican Day Parade on Sunday went viral on YouTube.
Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey suspended the officer, Lt. Jonathan D. Josey II, 40, a Highway patrol supervisor, for 30 days, effective on Thursday, with “the intent to dismiss.â€
“I watched the video over and over again, and I also listened to the interviews the complainant gave the media,†Mr. Ramsey told reporters, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. “Looking at everything, it was my sense that this was a very serious violation of department policy and that the force used wa s not the force necessary to effect an arrest.â€
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the District Attorney's office would drop disorderly conduct charges that were brought against the woman, Aida Guzman, 39.
Ms. Guzman, a domestic worker from Chester, Pa. was struck twice, knocked to the ground and handcuffed by Mr. Josey, the commanding officer, after it appears someone had tossed water or some other liquid at his back.
In the 36-second video, which has been viewed more than 1.3 million times, it looks as if liquid is squirted into the air and may have fallen on Mr. Josey and a small group of other officers walking across the street in a crowded intersection, at 5th and Lehigh Streets. Mr. Josey spins around and strikes Ms. Guzman as she is walking away.
Ms. Guzman is not seen in the video throwing liquid or anything at the officers. She can be seen waving what looks like a can of “silly string†into the air an d holding a flag. She suffered a cut lip, wounds to her arms and head and neck pain, her lawyer said.
A spokesman for the police union representing lieutenants said that they would fight Commissioner Ramsey's decision to dismiss Mr. Josey, who was a decorated police officer with 19 years on the job.
Mr. Josey has been “cited by the Citizens Crime Commission of Delaware Valley for bravery in 2010 after interrupting an armed robbery and shooting the perpetrator,†according to the Philadelphia Daily News.
The Daily News also reported that Mr. Josey worked in some independent films as an actor and had contributed opinion pieces to the newspaper in recent years about criminal justice. And in 2006, he earned a spot and a photograph of him bare-chested in the paper's pages as a Daily News “Sexy Single.â€
Sam Gregory, program director for Witness, a nonprofit organization that promotes the use of video for human rights, said this is the latest example of how people are increasingly turning to cellphone videos to capture police misconduct.
“It demonstrates the importance of citizens being able to capture this type of video and protecting their right to record,†Mr. Gregory said. He said the ability for people to record police officers is inconsistent across the United States because of varying state laws.
Witness was founded in 1992, after a video recording was made in 1991 of Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King, who became a symbol of police brutality. The video contributed in raising public awareness of the excessive use of force by police officers and was used in a trial against the officers involved.
