Alleged abuse caught on tape

last updated 8 January 2015

Inglewood, Calif.

A white California police officer was suspended this week, a day after the release of an amateur videotape showing him punching a handcuffed African-American teenager. Officer Jeremy Morse was suspended with pay, pending an internal investigation, said Lt. Eve Irvine of the Inglewood police. “What occurred in the video is extremely disturbing,” she said. One officer said the teen was “combative.” A tourist at a nearby hotel turned on his camera as he watched officers arrest Donovan Jackson, 16, after they questioned Jackson’s father about his expired license plate. The tape shows Morse, who is bleeding from a gash over his ear, slamming Jackson’s head into a patrol car. Lawyer Joe Hopkins said the officers also threatened Jackson’s father, Koby Chavis. “One of the officers said to him, ‘You’re going to jail, nigger,’” he said.