To be fair, he was obviously trying to dig up a rock to use against them.

It was a really big rock.

I've said this a few times but it never fails to amaze me.

As i understand it, this incident was preceded by a high speed chase which endangers everyone, the officers, the suspect and everyone on the streets. Adrenaline is high and i even understand maybe wanting to whack the guy.

But for the love, you have to KNOW their are helicopters and people recording you. Its absolutely inescapable.

So that leaves monumental stupidity and somehow not realizing this fact, or they simply have zero fear of reprisal or consequence.

I'm not really sure there is a third option.

Two Troopers Relieved of Duty in Police Beating of Car Chase Suspect
http://abcnews.go.com/US/troopers-relieved-duty-police-beating-car-chase-suspect/story?id=39064200

They are almost always relieved or suspended, at least while the investigation is in process. Once the initial furor blows over, they are either quietly put back on duty or sometimes fired. Since most departments don't bother to blacklist them, they will simply find another place to be a cop.

Just like the two cops who killed the kid with the fake airsoft gun (Tamir Rice) both had prior incidents that, in any normal job would have prevented them from working in that field ever again. Look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Tamir_Rice and read the background of the officers. Both had incidents that should have made them unsuitable for duty, but they both were able to continue working and then were let off the hook by a grand jury after the shoo...murder of Rice. Since they were acquitted, the wonderful police unions mean they get to stay cops.

Now you tell me another field of employment that gets away with this. You might say the military, but generally if you screw up badly they will make you go away. There might be a cover up, but you are going to be kicked out, court martialed, or put in a dead end place where you will never advance out of nor have authority to make any important decisions. Politics is close, but if you aren't super high up in the food chain you will pay for it as well. Police, though, they will walk 99% of the time. Even the officer who shot the teen here in Austin that was wandering around naked and threatening people, he was only fired and this town is one of the most liberal towns in the USA. We've already established that a lot of police forces don't even bother checking with previous employers, so I expect he will be able to go someplace else and be a cop again.

The most fun thing? This has been going on for decades, hell, probably a couple of centuries. Only since the advent of video recording technology that was easily portable have we been shown the true nature of the beast. But, and forgive me as I can't find the exact quote, someone said something along the lines of that the majority of the public will forget anything in six weeks. Over and over we seem to prove that as we keep letting these people get away with impunity.

*wtf

Adding video to channels (Wtf) - requested by ant.

Yeah plus the understandable desire to punch someone and actually doing so are very different things. The idiocy of not thinking of cameras aside, all police need to have the professionalism and self control to not be violent even if they're upset. However some abusive language would be just fine in this case.

Rarely do they get suspended without pay, though.