An Innocent Man Savagely Beaten By Police Because Of Mistaken Identity
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE BYSTANDER: They were pounding his head for no reason. They were being brutal.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: James King, a 21-year-old college student tackled, beaten and choked unconscious by two undercover officers, who believed he was a fugitive.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE BYSTANDER: I know, they were pounding him.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: According to a lawsuit file by King, two plain clothes officers approached him. They did not identify themselves. They asked for his I.D. He did not have one. And, when they reached for his wallet, he thought he was being mugged, so he tried to run.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE BYSTANDER: They were out of control pounding him.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: King screamed for bystanders to call 911.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Officer Allen later testifying he beat King as hard, as fast and as many times as he could.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Uniformed officers eventually arrived.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE OFFICER: Do you have any weapons on you at all?</s>JAMES KING, BEATEN DOWN BY TWO UNDERCOVER POLICE OFFICER: No, sir. I thought they were trying to mug me. Please guys, is he real police?</s>PINSKY: And, there is more. This kid, King, was subsequently charged with three felonies. He was forced to hire attorneys, spend money. He did not have that money. He had to defend himself. He was acquitted on all charges. Back with Sam, Lisa and Karamo. Joining us is Randy Sutton. Randy is a former lieutenant with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. I want to talk to Sam first. Fair?</s>SCHACHER: I thought those police officers are lucky. If that were me, Dr. Drew, two plain-clothed dudes came up to me and started manhandling me, I would have thought I was being kidnapped or raped. I would have scratched. I would gouge. I would have done everything. To me, it would have been survived.</s>PINSKY: And, there is a little more. I want to show Lisa something. Here is some dash cam video. And, in this dash cam video, you will hear one of the uniformed officers telling witnesses to delete their cell phone videos. Take a look.</s>BLOOM: Oh gosh!</s>SCHACHER: Oh, convenient.</s>OFFICER MORRIS: I do no think we need any more cameras.</s>UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: Oh, this is for my mom. I will not show it to anybody.</s>OFFICER MORRIS: No. We got undercover officers over there. No pictures. No pictures. Delete it. Delete it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: OK, there, delete. There you go I deleted it.</s>OFFICER MORRIS: All right. Thank you.</s>PINSKY: So, Lisa, my question is, do police have a right to tell people to delete --</s>BLOOM: No.</s>PINSKY: But, hold on. I want to --</s>BLOOM: That is the easiest question I have had all day.</s>PINSKY: But, is it possible that they were exposing the identity of undercover officers whose safety could be in jeopardy?</s>BLOOM: You have a first amendment right to tape the police as long as you do not interfere with police activity. You cannot block them.</s>PINSKY: But, Lisa, hold on. I am not sure --</s>BLOOM: I know you are saying because you might disclose an undercover police officer.</s>PINSKY: And, could you harm those officers. I am not cool with that.</s>BLOOM: It is too remote of a possibility and people have the right to and they should. And, it is important that they should. Why? Because nobody believes shooting victims or beating of victims until these videos have surfaced in the last couple of years. It has completely changed public perception and I thank God for that.</s>PINSKY: Karamo.</s>BROWN: We need reform immediately, immediately. They beat this young kid up excessively and we need to start acknowledging that there is a problem within the police force.</s>PINSKY: We start acknowledging, we have been talking about it for a couple of years now.</s>BROWN: Yes, you are right.</s>PINSKY: I want to hear from Randy. Randy, were they appropriate in how they handled this kid. It is hard to understand that. And, then what about asking to have the pictures deleted?</s>RANDY SUTTON, FMR. LT., LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN P.D.: All right. Well, let us talk about some perspectives that you seemed to be missing here.</s>PINSKY: Yes.</s>SUTTON: First of all, if you read all of the documents, everything that is being reported came from the attorney, who is suing on behalf of this young man. That is where all of this information is coming from. If you read all of the documentation, you will see that the young man acknowledged that these two officers were wearing badges around their necks. What he said was, in his -- the lawyer said, he did not know what the badges were. OK. So, he was contacted by these two officers. They are wearing what undercover officers wear in order to identify themselves and it is their badges around their neck. Now, I have never seen a mugging where they ask you for your identification. So, I do not really buy that story. Secondly, when he said that, I do not have any identification, one of the officers saw that he had a wallet. Well, what do people carry in their wallets?</s>PINSKY: I.D.s</s>SUTTON: And, having been a police officer for as many years as I have, people lie all of the time. And, one of the ways that people are deceptive when they are trying to not get caught for being a fugitive or something else --</s>PINSKY: Randy.</s>SCHACHER: Randy.</s>PINSKY: Hold on.</s>SUTTON: They may lie and say, "I do not have it."</s>PINSKY: OK. Hold on. I am running out of time.</s>SUTTON: Well, it is OK.</s>PINSKY: But, Randy, I am going to bring you back. But, I still want you to explain where it goes to, "I do not have my I.D. I am lying and I am obfuscating. I am BS-ing to I need to get my face beaten in. It is a little -- there is a distance there I can quite travel. I mean --</s>SUTTON: And, I will be happy to explain that to you.</s>PINSKY: Please. And, the picture thing also. So, we will get into that, right after this.