US: Video shows white Louisiana policeman pummelling Black man

The May 2019 beating following a traffic stop left Black motorist Aaron Larry Bowman with a broken jaw, ribs, wrist and a gash to the head. Graphic body camera video kept secret for more than two years shows a state police trooper from the US state of Louisiana pummelling a Black motorist 18 times with a flashlight – an attack the trooper defended as “pain compliance”. Bowman’s beating was carried out by Jacob Brown, a white trooper who, before resigning in March, tallied 23 use-of-force incidents dating to 2015 – 19 of them targeting Black people, according to state police records. Wielding an 8-inch aluminium flashlight reinforced with a pointed end to shatter car glass, Brown jumped out of his state police vehicle and began bashing Bowman on his head and body within two seconds of “initial contact” – unleashing 18 blows in 24 seconds, detectives wrote in an investigative report. “I ain’t messing with you.” Bowman tried to explain several times that he was a dialysis patient, had done nothing wrong and was not resisting, saying, “I’m not fighting you, you’re fighting me.” Brown responded with: “Shut the f*** up!” and “You ain’t listening.” Bowman later can be heard moaning, still on the ground.