Then a swarm of cops descended on him, dragged him out of the car and began hitting and stomping him. In the video, cops can be seen leaping over cars in order to get their licks in. Finally two plainclothes cops put Jones, shot and beaten, in a headlock, dragged him to their car, and took him away. He is being held in custody at Temple University Hospital where he is reported to be in stable condition. After swarming over Jones, the cops tried to claim that he had shot at them before they unloosed their barrage of gunfire.
Eyewitnesses say there was no gun, and no gun has been found.
One cop, Michael Livewell, was injured in the thumb in the police crossfire. City authorities have reacted by moving to squelch any public outcry against the cop violence. As part of this move, Street, elected last fall, called Rev. Alfred Sharpton in New York and Jesse Jackson in Chicago. The cops have thrown the book at Jones. Besides being charged with stealing the car the cops chased, he has been charged with two counts of attempted murder.