Outrage over the vicious police beating of Thomas Jones, an African American man, has rocked Philadelphia. The beating was filmed and broadcast live by a local television news helicopter July 12 and seen around the world.

Scores of protesters turned out for a demonstration against police brutality June 14, including Jones' fianc?e Victoria Bryant.

Jones' stepfather, Ernest Jacobs, said of the police: "They spend all this money on training. It looked like they were trying to kill him. Photos don't lie."

Talk show hosts from African American radio stations WHAT-AM and WPHT-AM reported that their telephone lines were choked with angry callers.

"Many in our community have experienced excessive treatment by law enforcement," said WHAT General Manager Christopher Squire. "History plays a part, and you can't forget history."

The attack on Jones is part of a long history of Philadelphia police violence that includes the 1981 shooting of Black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was then framed for killing a cop, and the 1985 bombing of the MOVE Organization.

City officials are trying to do damage control. The racist, lynch-mob-style attack on Jones couldn't have come at a worse time for them. The much-ballyhooed Republican National Convention is set to open here July 31.

A total of 59 blows--including 46 kicks and an assault with a radio--were delivered by the police mob in just 29 seconds. Before the beating, Jones had also been shot five times in his arm and side.

As of July 18 no cops have been charged or even suspended for the assault. However, District Attorney Lynn Abraham has charged Jones with at least 20 crimes, including attempted murder, aggravated assault, simple assault and robbery.

Two of the cops who assaulted Jones, Michael Livewell and Lawrence McKenny, are defendants in a federal civil-rights lawsuit. They stand accused of harassing Kareem Glass and his family, who are African American, in an attempt to make them drop an earlier lawsuit stemming from their beating of Glass in 1995.

Glass, who was then 15, sustained irreparable brain damage from the beating.

The police have tried to whitewash their actions by demonizing Jones. They claim that he shot a police officer and that he "must have been on drugs."

Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney had to admit that police couldn't locate the weapon Jones allegedly used to shoot a cop in the hand. One officer told the Philadelphia Daily News that "it could have been friendly fire."

There's no evidence that Jones fired a gun. Police claim they couldn't do residue tests on Jones' hands.

Yet two days after the beating, police claimed to have found a crack pipe in Jones' abandoned car and other drug paraphernalia nearby. Police reportedly took blood from Jones in the hospital for drug tests. No results have been released.

'No gun,' witnesses say

Witnesses described the band of police pursuing Jones as "frantic." Patrol cars careened through the streets of North Philadelphia, narrowly missing children as they chased Jones to the intersection of 17th and France streets.

There Jones abandoned his car and ran. Cops chased him and hit him with pepper spray.

Police claim that Jones was carrying a gun in one hand. But witnesses report that he scaled a seven-foot metal fence using both hands. Others said Jones raised both hands in the air to surrender, contrary to police statements.

Four or five uniformed police began kicking and punching Jones, who was standing and trying to protect his face. Again, witnesses said his hands were empty.

Next the cops pushed Jones into a police car. That's when police claim Jones bit one officer and shot another in the hand. But several witnesses insist Jones still had no gun.

People who knew Jones also challenged the report that he had a gun.

Jones managed to get behind the wheel of the idling police car and took off. Ten cops opened fire, spraying at least 43 shots. Some narrowly missed bystanders.

Cops chased the wounded Jones again to 26th and Oxford streets. After they pulled him from the car, ten police kicked and punched Jones while over a dozen others surrounded them and joined in the malicious brutality.

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