Philadelphia officer to be dismissed amid beating allegation

PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia police department says it plans to dismiss a suspended officer who was reportedly videotaped slamming a handcuffed man to the ground and bashing his head on the side of a swimming pool.

Twenty-six-year-old Officer James Yeager surrendered to the department’s internal affairs unit on Friday.

A video uploaded to social media July 10 incident shows a group of officers grabbing a handcuffed man and slamming him to the ground, and one smashing his head into the side of a pool. The 21-year-old was critically injured.

The Fraternal Order of Police said Friday that the three-minute video clip didn’t tell the whole story. WPVI reports that union president John McNesby said in a statement that “We look forward to seeing the entire video and we support Officer Yeager.”