Black Policeman Beaten; 5 White Officers Suspects

The police chief said Tuesday that he will deal quickly with five white officers suspected of beating a black plainclothes officer who was stopped for an expired license tag on his police-issue truck.

The beaten officer worked the same shift in the same precinct as the officers who beat him Monday night, but he was wearing a hat that might have made it difficult for them to recognize him, Chief Robert Kirchner said.

Kirchner said he does not believe the incident was racially motivated. And the beaten officer, Reggie Miller, said he heard no racial slurs.

Kirchner said he wants to reassure the community that brutality will not be tolerated. “It will be dealt with, and we won’t wait two or three weeks to see if we can discover, uncover some impropriety,” he said.

Miller was working undercover Monday night as part of a prostitution sting when Officer Jeb Johnston, a uniformed officer who was not part of the sting, noticed that the tag on Miller’s police-issue unmarked truck was expired.

Johnston ordered Miller to pull over, but Miller drove about three blocks from the main sting area before stopping. Kirchner said that when Miller did stop he reached down in the truck to put on the parking brake. Johnston waited for backup, thinking Miller might have been reaching for a weapon.

Johnston was joined by Officers Brian Petty, J. S. Bauer, David Geary and Jeffrey Blewett. Geary allegedly gouged Miller in the eyes and Blewett allegedly kicked him in the groin. Kirchner said that was the point where the officers may have used unnecessary force.