The Philadelphia Police Department's Internal Affairs unit said it will look into an incident caught on tape in which at least a dozen officers surrounded a car, broke its windows with billy clubs, beat the driver (a 28-year-old home health aide), and pulled her 2-year-old child from the backseat. If the internal affairs unit wants a quick answer as to why the cops behaved so violently, they can look at the color of the driver's skin.
To add icing the execrable cake, Philadelphia's Fraternal Order of Police posted a photo of an officer holding the toddler they pulled out of the car, claiming, "This child was lost during the violent riots in Philadelphia, wandering around barefoot in an area that was experiencing complete lawlessness. The only thing this Philadelphia police officer cared about in that moment was protecting this child."
From The Washington Post:
[Rickia Young] was driving back to their home, hoping the purring car engine would lull her young son to sleep, when she turned onto Chestnut Street, where police and protesters had collided. She found herself unexpectedly driving toward a line of police officers who told her to turn around, Mincey said. The young mother tried to make a three-point turn when a swarm of Philadelphia officers surrounded the SUV, shattered its windows and pulled Young and her 16-year-old nephew from the car, the video shows.
A now-viral video of the confrontation shows officers throw Young and the teenager to the ground and then grab the toddler from the back seat. The scene was captured by Aapril Rice, who watched it unfold from her rooftop and told the Philadelphia Inquirer that watching a police officer take the baby was "surreal" and "traumatic."
Mincey said police temporarily detained Young, who had to be taken to the hospital for medical treatment before she could be processed at the police station because her head was bleeding and most of her left side had been badly bruised when police threw her to the ground. She and her son were separated for hours, he said.
After the video surfaced that showed what really happened, the Fraternal Order of Police quietly removed the tweet and Facebook post.