Mexican city launches investigation into police beating

MEXICO CITY – A Mexican city has launched an investigation into a policeman seen beating a thief with a stick like a pinata.

The mayor of Tonala wrote Wednesday that “you cannot fight violence with more violence.”

Mayor Juan Antonio Gonzalez congratulated police on the arrest, but said the officer had been placed under investigation.

On Monday police corned a man suspected of stealing a car with a sleeping child inside. The suspect ran into a church and threatened to jump off a window ledge, but police caught his leg with a rope.

As the suspect hung suspended upside down, an officer began beating hitting him with a stick.

A crowd of spectators began singing “dale, dale, dale,” or “hit it, hit it, hit it,” normally sung to encourage someone hitting a pinata.