Caught On Cam - Cop Strikes Suspect
By: Ray Doughty
Updated: February 11, 2011
A video released on Thursday shows a Houston, Texas police officer allegedly beating a handcuffed man inside Memorial Hermann Hospital.
Henry Madge, 27, said the video recorded by a hospital security camera shows how he was hit by an officer while he was handcuffed.
"He takes one or two blows and I'm on the ground," Madge said.
Madge said he was hit three times, once with a baton, then twice more as he was on the ground.
He said it happened two years ago, but he felt obligated to come forward after seeing the tape of Chad Holley, 15 at the time, being beaten by several Houston police officers.
"After seeing it, it hurt me because this happened to me and I didn't do anything. I didn't say anything. I kept it to myself. You have to help because there's not a lot of people alive to tell their story and here I am, alive," Madge said.
Made said he was at Memorial Hermann Hospital with his son who was having his appendix removed.
He said he went to a waiting area to listen to a church service but was asked to turn down the volume.
Soon afterward, he said, a police officer responded and he was charged with resisting arrest.
Community leader Quanell X said Madge filed a complaint with HPD's Internal Affairs, but it resulted in no punishment for the officer.
"Miss Mayor, don't tell us you don't support a citizen's review board with subpoena power. These police officers are out of control and something must be done to equal the playing field. It's happening to poor whites, poor African-Americans," Quanell X said.
"This is a fire that's burning that must be put out and justice is the only way to do that," The Rev. James Dixon said.
A Houston police spokesman said the department needs to verify the information surrounding the arrest and look at the video before an official comment would be made.
