Five US police officers in Birmingham, Alabama have been fired for beating an unconscious suspect who had crashed his car in a police pursuit. The attack on Anthony Warren took place in January 2008, but police video footage has only just been made public. It was uncovered in March by prosecutors preparing a case against Warren for assaulting an officer, for which he was later convicted.

The authorities believe that many police officers and supervisors had watched the video in the year before it was made public but had not reported it.

Personally, I think any cop who saw this video and didn’t report it should be fired as well, but I guess I’ll have to be content with only the actual assholes involved getting the boot.

And I found it less than amusing that beneath the video the words “officers appearing to hit the suspect” is used to describe what took place. There is no “appearing to hit” there. There’s no denying they are hitting him. The punches were not pulled, and this is not a Hollywood production. I have eyes, and they work.