Sergeant suspended amid uproar over student beating

POLICE authorities in the Maryland town of Prince George have suspended a sergeant who was at the scene of a beating last month of an unarmed University of Maryland student that occurred after crowds took to the streets to celebrate a basketball win.

A video taken by a fellow student has appeared on the internet showing University of Maryland basketball player John McKenna, 21, being battered by Prince George’s County police officers.

McKenna needed eight staples in a huge wound on his skull. The video shows that the attack occurred without any apparent provocation by McKenna. Prince George’s County police have dropped their charges against the young man.

They had earlier claimed McKenna struck mounted park police. That claim has now been dropped. The initial police report states McKenna’s “minor” injuries were caused by kicks from the police horses.

The video images of the attack have caused uproar since being aired on a number of American TV stations.

Major Andy Ellis, a Prince George’s County police spokesman, declined to identify the officer but confirmed the suspension which is part of the widening investigation of the beating and any failures to stop or report it.

The sergeant is the second officer suspended.

Mr Ellis said internal affairs investigators had spoken with half of the 100 officers who worked riot duty after a March 3 Maryland-Duke game.

He said the department thinks it has identified the three baton-wielding officers in the video and they could be suspended soon. He said the officers will be identified publicly during or after the investigation.

The video, which has been aired nationwide and has cast a new light on Prince George’s police tactics, shows the student skipping on a sidewalk before stopping at a phalanx of officers on horseback. As he stood there, two Prince George’s officers ran up and attacked him.

A third officer then joined the beating.

Mr Ellis said the department is trying to balance the public interest in knowing how the department monitors officers with concerns about the men’s safety and due process. Some have faced threats since the tape emerged, Ellis said.