No charges in videotaped police beating

Calling it a case where first impressions were wrong, Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham announced this morning that a grand jury has decided not to recommend criminal charges against a dozen police officers identified from last year's beating of three men that was caught on video and caused a national sensation.

"The video, in fact, did not speak for itself," Abraham told reporters in a Center City news conference.

Police pursued the men in the belief they had been involved in a shooting and came at time when they were also looking for a man wanted in the killing of police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski two days earlier.

Abraham said the 23 grand jurors could not reconcile the kickings and punching shown on the Fox29 video - captured by a news helicopter hovering over the May 5, 2008 car chase and apprehensions - with the lack of serious injuries sustained by the three suspects.

The 98-page grand jury report instead put more stock in the mindset of the officers who stopped the car they believed contained men who minutes earlier had fired into a crowd in Feltonville and wounded three people.

Abraham said the grand jury heard from all 12 officers, all three defendants, Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey and experts in felony stops and use of force.

Although Abraham acknowledged the shocking nature of the video showing the the arrests of Dwayne Dyches, Brian Hall and Pete Hopkins, she said the reality discovered by the grand jury was that the officers used only the force needed to subdue and cuff the three men.

"For all the apparent ferocity, the defendants suffered no substantial injuries, no broken bones . . . They were in an out of the hospital in under an hour," Abraham said.

The panel, however, recommended some changes in procedures for pursuing suspected violent offenders.

Dyches, 26, and Hall, 24, both of North Philadelphia, and Hopkins, 21, of Kensington - were arrested by police after a two-mile car chase.

Police accused the trio - they were all acquitted July 1 by a Common Pleas Court jury - of firing into a crowd in Feltonville and wounding three people.

But the chase and charges were overshadowed by the 11 minutes of video captured by a Fox29 news helicopter hovering over the scene in the 3700 block of North Second Street in Feltonville.

The video shows a gold 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis sedan cruise to a stop along the road's shoulder, blocked in front by a patrol car across the highway and a series of patrol cars right behind.

Then, a half-dozen officers, guns drawn, rush the suspect car, pull the driver and two passengers out and force them face down on the roadway. A group of officers surround the men and proceed to kick and hit them for about 40 to 50 seconds until they are cuffed.

The video brought unwanted international attention to Philadelphia and its new mayor and police commissioner. Police investigators quickly identified 19 officers on the scene; four were fired and four more disciplined.

Abraham announced that she would impanel a grand jury two weeks after Fox29 television broadcast the dramatic video.