“While he is handcuffed and lying down, you see a black cop run up and kick him in square in the face. They’re punching and hitting him, punching and hitting him.”

The helplessness of a handcuffed man, lying on the ground, as the boot of a police officer coming full speed to his face, is more than I can stomach.  The Houston Chronicle  tells the story of the unnamed man who tried to run.  He was a burglary suspect,  When police stopped his car, he took off.  Some police officers find flight personally offensive.

Nothing happened, of course, until the Pat Lykos was provided a video from nearby Uncle Bob’s Self Storage.  Without the video, which has not yet been released, it was just another instance of police serving and protecting.

From viewing the videotape, Quanell X said it appears the arrested man was beaten by the officers after a chase.

 “You see the young man get out (of his car) and take off running — and you see a (patrol) car hit him,” he said. “When the car hit him, you see him lay all the way down and the cops just pounce on him like a pack of wolves pouncing on raw meat.

 “While he is handcuffed and lying down, you see a black cop run up and kick him in square in the face. They’re punching and hitting him, punching and hitting him.”

The image of a pack of wolves is a good one, but not one that everybody will share.  In a comment to the story, the sentiment that anyone who runs from the cops deserves a beating.  No doubt the cops agree.  It wasn’t just the flight, which forced them to exert themselves, and they might not have had enough time to digest their lunch, but the adrenaline rush that comes to people unused to physical exertion.  With that juice pulsing through your veins, its nearly impossible not to run up to a handcuffed man on the ground at full speed and kick him in the face.  Cops understand, though civilians like me will never get it.

A sergeant and seven officers were suspended (with pay) following disclosure of the videotape.  The District Attorney is investigating.  It takes a lot of investigating to determine whether it’s wrong to kick a handcuffed man in the face.  One can never be too careful when it comes to the lie of video.

The burglary suspect shouldn’t have fled.  But then, he’s the burglary suspect, and sometimes they flee.  Sometimes they flee because they are guilty.  Sometimes they flee because they are innocent.  Sometimes they just flee.  There’s a price to pay for flight, and the law can impose punishment appropriate to the wrong.

There is no law that sentences a person to be handcuffed, lying on the ground and kicked in the face by the boot of a cop.  While the image makes me sick to my stomach, I hear the applause of some locals for the fine work of the Houston Police Department.