Another unarmed black man is dead at the hands of cops whose motto is to protect and serve.
Police in Vineland, New Jersey, a suburb of Philadelphia, allegedly beat Phillip White to death while he was unconscious and handcuffed on the ground.
Ricardo Garcia, who witnessed the incident, described what he saw to a reporter.
“They punched him, stomped him, kicked him and then they let the dog out of the car,” said Ricardo Garcia. “The dog bit him on his face and around his body. There’s no call for that. Once a man is handcuffed and unconscious, you should have stuck him in the patrol car and take him to the police station. Instead they decided to beat him right here.”
Another witness, Agustin Ayala of Ayala Towing, told a reporter he was driving a tow truck when he saw two police officers beating an apparently unconscious man.
Ayala said he asked the officers to stop because he was concerned for the man’s welfare.
A dog is heard barking hysterically in the background of the police dispatch audio.
“118 West Grape,” a dispatcher says in the recording. “Subject… hyperventilating. Officers out.”
One of the officers can be heard rehearsing his defense.
“Subject under…tried disarming me,” he said breathlessly.
News of White’s death spread quickly through the New Jersey neighborhood.
Vineland Police Chief Timothy Codispoti was swift to respond to the growing scandal.
“As many of you have already heard, earlier today a tragedy occurred involving Officers and a citizen,” said Codispoti on Tuesday. “Sadly, this call for service resulted in an “in–custody, non-shooting death” which is being investigated by the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s office”
Police didn’t clarify why White was arrested at his home.
White’s aunt, Valerie White, told NBC10 she wanted answers.
“Why, what he was doing, I don’t know,” she said. “I’m trying to get answers and closure now. He lived a street life but he was a human being. Bottom line.”
White is the 290th person to be killed by police in America in the 1st 90 days of 2015.
