This may be the craziest video you watch all week. Watch as CNN’s Rick Sanchez walks us through this tape where a suspect Anthony Warren is on the run from police in his car, hits a police officer trying to put out a spike strip and finally flips his car causing him to fly out the window. When officers get to the scene they begin pummeling him while he’s unconscious, according to news sources:
A group of Birmingham police officers beat an already-unconscious suspect with fists, feet and a billy club, a battering caught on videotape until a police officer turned off the patrol car camera. Authorities believe the video, taken in January 2008 after a chase by several area law enforcement agencies ended when the fleeing suspect’s van flipped, has been seen by numerous Birmingham officers and as many as a half-dozen supervisors over the past year.
But top city and police officials weren’t made aware of the taped beating until they were contacted by the district attorney’s office three months ago. In fact, investigators say, the suspect, Anthony Warren, didn’t even know he’d been beaten until the tape surfaced in March. Warren was ejected from the vehicle and knocked unconscious, and thought all of his injuries were sustained in the wreck.
At the time of his arrest and beating, Warren, of Vestavia Hills, had a string of felony arrests and convictions dating back to 1989 for crimes including theft, receiving stolen property and escape. UAB Hospital officials said Warren was released from the hospital five days after the incident.
He was booked into the Jefferson County Jail on Jan. 28, with his bond set at $1 million. Warren was charged with attempted murder as a result of the chase but pleaded guilty in March 2009 to first-degree assault. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
We feel like we’re going to be hearing a lot about this case so let us know what you think after you watch the video after the jump.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
This may very well be a racial incident. It’s definitely a reminder of a shameful past. But it is also a police brutality issue and no matter the color of your skin, you will get an ass-whipping if you try to run over a cop. Been there before. (not for running over a cop though)
Well the first cop to hit him was black…
But that’s still flipping unnecessary.
Yeah, but that’s what I mean–the mayor was invoking the past. Yes, police history has lots of racial violence but there is also the immunity that people get with a gun and a badge. If you don’t have a camera, a rich father, or a good lawyer, you will get lumped.
Police officers abuse their powers.
I gues I’m gonna be the one to speak out on this, bottom line he tried to run over a cop that’s attempted murder of a police officer and by driving the way he was he not only endangered the officers lives but the lives of the innocent people on the road. HE DESERVES TO HAVE HIS ASS BEAT! A lot of times cops go overboard and should be fired but this dude obviously isn’t a law abiding citizen minding his own business, he had a string of felony arrests and convictions dating back to 1989 for crimes including theft, receiving stolen property and escape, in other words he’s a piece of shit that makes our entire race look bad. I wouldn’t give a fuck if they killed this asshole.
sideshow, I agree. We get too up in arms about criminals rights. This guy driving like a madman could have killed any of the other drivers on the road. “They should have come to his aid and made sure he was not injured”??? Are you kidding me? So the cops are supposed to put their lives on the line to stop people like this while they are committing their crimes, and then hug them and kiss their boo boo’s when they finally catch them? If I were a cop and out there chasing this fool, thinking that maybe I will not make it home that night because he is endangering my life, I would be a little bit ticked off when I finally caught him too.
No matter what his criminal past was and current offenses are, the law does not grant cops the right to play judge and jury. Plenty of law abiding citizens have been killed by cops and will continue to be abused by cops who abuse their power until a strong message is sent to all cops that brutality of no sorts will not be tolerated. These cops deserved to be fired and hung out to dry.
idiots. when will these cops learn, you tear dat ass up OFF CAMERA!!
okay. i agree that the guy is a major doosh. but, the cops were not doing their jobs. it’s as simple as that. i work at a arbys as a shift manager and have to deal with some very absurd customers, but i don’t let it get under my skin like the cops did. they let the situation get the best of them, and they SHOULD NOT have reacted that way. the guy is getting 20 years which he deserved, but he shouldn’t have gotten that beating after crashing
and NO HE DIDN’T DESERVE TO GET HIS ASS BEAT AFTER HE WAS ALREADY UNCONCIOUS! he deserves 20 years in prison
i can see why they did what they did. but honestly… when people are thrown from a car and knocked unconcious. im pretty sure they can be arrested easily. a little overboard.
but everyone has to get a piece in and im pretty sure that cop wont be walking for a while. they shoulda just waited a little bit. let it fester, then unload. btw… i dont condone violence.
DEATH TO HUMANITY!!! MUHAHAHAH
It’s terrible.
Abuse of power.
I am tired of the same imagery.
Black men/women on the run from cops.
Excessive Force by “our protectors”
Family members on television s creaming and crying
, not about the life their family member lead, but the murder/beating at the hands of law enforcement.
Both ends are a disgust.
I’m like super speechless! No one deserves to get treated like that no matter what that person has done. When you become a cop you know the pros and cons of what it takes to be in the police force. You know that your life is and will be put in danger because of other knuckle heads.
They had that shit on camera so there was no reason for all this mochery they should have just handcuffed him or waited until the ambulance came.
If that was anyone of our family members we would not be talking all of this foolery.
Whats in the dark will eventually come out in the light they should have known someone was going to find the tape and leek.. Stupid MF’s
The abuse of power demonstrates that those police officers are incapable of controlling their anger and their violent actions toward others. They demonstrated very clearly that they are dangerous, corrupted, and ill-equipped to serve. The criminal’s lack of character and integrity means nothing, absolutely nothing. Two wrongs do not make a right.
I wonder if those cops beat their families when they are mad. They certainly were quick to jump on this guy, without a thought for his unconsciousness/helplessness at the point he was ejected from the car. Furthermore, criminal or not, he could have been seriously injured, for example with a broken neck. In that case, the cops had no empathy whatsoever for the value of his life. They made themselves the judge and jury, had a trial early on this guy in 11 seconds. Vigilante, rabid cops. They are probably nightmare people not only at work, but at home and everywhere else as well.
@ mrsmac & sideshowaheem…….side show fits you well if you think that this man deserved to get beat to a pulp whilst he was unconscious….what the fuck is wrong with yall
…cops have rules they have to go buy no matter what the situation is,thats what they’re trained for…….He was unconscious!!!!!!!!!COPS….REAL TOUGH GUYS…HA?
Maybe you guys are right he didn’t deserve to get beat like that. The cops should have pulled out their guns and shot him between the eyes to save the tax payers of Birmingham, AL the burden of providing this loser with free room and board for the next 20-years.
I’m not saying what the cops did was legally right just that I refuse to get all upset and defend someone who wouldn’t have thought twice about running me over had I been in his way on the road that day. The fact that people with a 20-year history of being in and out of jail like Anthony Warren exist makes it harder for the rest of us law abidng tax paying black people and I for one am sick of being represented by scum like him. So I stand by what he said he deserved that ass beating whether he was conscious or not. Someone just needs to teach those cops to wait until they get him back to the station before that wup that ass.
@ sideshowRaheem
Prison is a business. It’s a big business that keeps a lot of scumbag, dirt road, red necks employed. So fellow “scum” like Anthony Warren is actually welcomed by the Birmingham, AL prison system because some greasy country hick of a corrections office will be able to feed his family.
However, I can understand why you do not have any empathy for a repeat offender who maintains a low quality of life, a part of me wants to agree with you. But if we start to co-sign and give cops the freedom of discretion to decide who’s guilty and what type of punishment they deserve then we’ll be opening the doors for US and our fellow law abiding black brothers and sisters to be harrassed, beaten, and killed. This issue goes far beyond people with a 20-year history of being in and out of jail being beat down.
Here is a tidbit-any person that scores 2 high on the test 2 become a police officer is NOT considered. Y? If your 2 smart or 2 much of a logical thinker they dont want u cause u cant b brainwashed & molded