SpidermanTUba
08-09-2010, 12:39 PM
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/08/looking_for_the_truth_about_th.html
He and Bell were placed in handcuffs and marched uptown a block. "Then they went to whuppin' us," he said flatly.
Both men say they didn't resist, but were beaten brutally and sprayed with mace nonetheless. Both of Williams' eyes were swollen shut, and his teeth were kicked out, he said. Most of his upper teeth are still missing.
"I was thinking we was gonna die," he said. "I was begging them to shoot me and get it over with."
Bell estimated "from seven to 11" officers were involved in the beating, which he said left him with internal bleeding. He said officers used sticks and their feet, plus Mace, to carry out the beatdown.
'Say your mama's a ho'
Williams also claims police took more than $2,500 in cash he had with him: his life savings, money he said he saved from work as a brick mason.
robert-williams-religious-street.JPGChris Granger, The Times-PicayuneAfter the beating, both of Robert Williams' eyes were swollen shut and his teeth were kicked out, he said. Most of his upper teeth are still missing. 'I was thinking we was gonna die,' he said. 'I was begging them to shoot me and get it over with.'
On top of the beating they delivered, officers taunted the men, they say. Williams remembers officers telling Bell: "Say your mama's a bitch. Say you're a bitch. Say your mama's a ho."
The men say they heard another man nearby pleading for the return of his camera -- Oleniuk, presumably. A few minutes later, officers talked about having located some new suspects, and they unshackled Williams and Bell, leaving them prone and bruised.
They went back to Williams' house near the old St. Thomas housing complex, he said, and took some over-the-counter painkillers. The next day, he said, a couple of the officers who participated in the beating drove by and laughed at him, asking: "How that ass-whipping was?"
He and Bell were placed in handcuffs and marched uptown a block. "Then they went to whuppin' us," he said flatly.
Both men say they didn't resist, but were beaten brutally and sprayed with mace nonetheless. Both of Williams' eyes were swollen shut, and his teeth were kicked out, he said. Most of his upper teeth are still missing.
"I was thinking we was gonna die," he said. "I was begging them to shoot me and get it over with."
Bell estimated "from seven to 11" officers were involved in the beating, which he said left him with internal bleeding. He said officers used sticks and their feet, plus Mace, to carry out the beatdown.
'Say your mama's a ho'
Williams also claims police took more than $2,500 in cash he had with him: his life savings, money he said he saved from work as a brick mason.
robert-williams-religious-street.JPGChris Granger, The Times-PicayuneAfter the beating, both of Robert Williams' eyes were swollen shut and his teeth were kicked out, he said. Most of his upper teeth are still missing. 'I was thinking we was gonna die,' he said. 'I was begging them to shoot me and get it over with.'
On top of the beating they delivered, officers taunted the men, they say. Williams remembers officers telling Bell: "Say your mama's a bitch. Say you're a bitch. Say your mama's a ho."
The men say they heard another man nearby pleading for the return of his camera -- Oleniuk, presumably. A few minutes later, officers talked about having located some new suspects, and they unshackled Williams and Bell, leaving them prone and bruised.
They went back to Williams' house near the old St. Thomas housing complex, he said, and took some over-the-counter painkillers. The next day, he said, a couple of the officers who participated in the beating drove by and laughed at him, asking: "How that ass-whipping was?"