Black Activist Releases Vid of Houston Police Beating 15-Year-Old Suspect

HOUSTON (AP) — Prosecutors and Houston Mayor Annise Parker on Thursday criticized a community activist’s release of a surveillance video that appears to show four former city police officers kicking and stomping a black teenage burglary suspect last year, saying it could jeopardize the cases against the officers.

But leaders in Houston’s black community applauded the release of what they called the “appalling” and “outrageous” actions of “rogue officers.”

“This never, ever should have been kept from the people,” said Quanell X, the community activist who released the video to Houston television station KTRK, which aired it Wednesday evening. “What’s on that tape, the world will get a chance to see now how they truly behave in public with young black men.”