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WJLA-TV has disturbing video that shows University of Maryland student John J. McKenna, 19, beaten by riot police. The incident happened on March 3, near campus, as late night revelers celebrated a basketball victory. Prince George’s County police cited 28 people that night, but McKenna would reportedly suffer more than cuff marks.
In the video, he appears to approach mounted police officers while skipping and raising his arms. One second, McKenna’s just fooling around; the next, he’s on the ground being hammered by cops in riot gear.
Though McKenna was arrested after the incident, charges were ultimately dropped.
Footage of McKenna’s beating comes on the heels of another alleged beatdown involving Prince George’s cops. On March 31, 20-year-old Prince A. Duncan-Lolliswas, of District Heights, was reportedly injured by police outside a Papa John’s in the Largo area. The Washington Post reports:
“I didn’t do anything. I was trying to get a job,” Duncan-Lollis said. He said an officer who escorted him out of the pizza shop asked for identification, and when Duncan-Lollis reached toward his back pocket to get it, the officer knocked him to the ground.
“I turned my head to the right and saw another officer coming. I was [pepper-sprayed], and I couldn’t see anymore,” Duncan-Lollis said. After that, he said, he felt blows to his face and torso.
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