It’s well documented that there are a lot of asshole American cops out there that are all too eager to abuse their power by beating the crap out of suspects or even murdering them in some cases, but the video below really is something else.

Images VIA

The video comes from Friday morning in The Bronx, New York City. A teenager named Alfred Burns tried to steal a bike from outside a shop, the owner of the bike saw this though and flagged down the cops to try and intervene. Once they were involved, Alfred bum rushed one of them and ended up on top of him on the floor with his hands in his face.

That’s where this video kicks in, with another cop on Alfred’s back pummelling the absolutely crap out of him as both men struggle to get to their feet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=132&v=mMIzQKD7J9s

Jesus. That is brutal and just totally unnecessary. I know that Alfred was obviously in the wrong to begin with, but I don’t really see the advantage of this cop remaining on his back and smacking him around the head over and over again whilst his partner is still underneath him on the floor and he doesn’t seem to be presenting any threat. Just let them both up and then arrest Burns, it seems like a fairly simple solution? It didn’t seem like he was resisting that much, despite the cries of the female officer.

Despite the beating, it does sound like Alfred is a bit of a piece of work though. After he was eventually let up, he was charged with assault, petit larceny, resisting arrest, criminal possession of stolen property and giving a fake name. He received treatment for his injuries and upon his release, immediately went and robbed a taxi driver of $75, a mobile phone and a tablet. Guess he’s looking to skip town, and I suppose you can’t blame him after that beating but still, I don’t think he deserved to get so walloped but that cop.

For more police brutality, check out these protesters getting beat up over in Ukraine. That’s another level yet again.