Unnecessary Force?

SABINA LOUISE PIERCE--AP
Police Commissioner Timoney ordered an investigation of the arrest

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Another option is to demonize Jones. His record is riddled with cowardly charges--stealing a bike from a 12-year-old, snatching purses from women. But should the punishment be a beating and five bullet wounds? "What I saw was excessive for what was happening at the moment," says Leslie Seymore, a retired Philadelphia cop and president of the local A.C.L.U. chapter.

There are already calls for better police training. Tactical mistakes occurred throughout the incident. (Even before the beating, for example, officers left themselves vulnerable to friendly-fire accidents.) But criminal-justice professor and former cop Gene O'Donnell says it's "ludicrous" to expect this kind of arrest to be orderly. "I've seen many tapes about which the media is screaming, 'Look at this! It's brutal!' And I see it and I say, 'No, it's police work.' Police work is brutal, and nobody wants to own up to that." Then again, says Seymore, "I have not seen an incident such as this in Philadelphia that did not involve a person of color." For now, perhaps the only hopeful news is that the city's leaders have thus far responded quickly and evenhandedly to the disturbing display of force. That has not always been true in Philadelphia. Indeed, some observers note that in the not too distant past, Jones might have ended up dead.