Cop kicks perp in head, high fives colleague on video

Police in Los Angeles are in trouble today for sharing a real “Dude” moment. After a criminal ran away in the midst of a car chase, upon lying down and surrendering a cop ran over and kicked him in the head. Kicking someone who’d given up is bad enough, but exchanging a high five with another cop afterwards…priceless.

Despite lying on the ground with his arms and legs spread, a suspect — who police say is a known gang member — got a face full of police boot on Wednesday.

The kicking cop added insult to injury by giving a post-beating high five.

“I’m looking into it, and I don’t have all the facts yet,” said El Monte Police Chief Tom Armstrong, who watched the video in a KNBC-TV newsvan.

“I worked internal affairs for four years and I have learned that you do not make a decision in a vacuum,” Armstrong said. “I do not know what was in the mind of that officer, as to why he did that. I saw the individual turn his head toward the officer.”

As for the officer with a flashlight seen striking the suspect in the video, Armstrong said, “…it appears (the suspect) had his arm underneath his body. You cannot see what was in his hand.”

“This is going to be looked into, and it should be. …I’m not here to make a decision or tell you what that officer did was overtly wrong until I know all the facts,” Armstrong said.

I’m very much pro cops…I don’t think they should always have to explain their actions when their lives are so frequently in danger and they’re treated as pariahs by most normal people. And how many times in life can you get a completely unguarded punt kick on a known gang member? Seems pretty deserving of a high five to me. He should have followed it up with a little touchdown dance or by pretending to hump the guy’s ear. That’s the price you pay for making an officer of the law have to sprint, you bastard.

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