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[Watch] Cops Being Investigated for Editing Beating Video

Think this is the first time it's happened?

Cover ups of police brutality have long been suspected, but an incident in Portsmouth, Virginia may provide proof that it does indeed happen.
Two cops are being investigated after a controversial cell phone video that shows the aftermath of an instance of police brutality was found to be doctored. The video, which shows an officer standing over a man in handcuffs while surrounding onlookers yell at him for allegedly beating the man. No proof of an actually beating takes place in the clip.

That is because, as 27-year-old Tiara Bailey who took the video, explains, the police removed the portion that showed the cops beating the man. Bailey said that after she stopped recording a second video, an officer called her to a patrol car, asked to see her phone, and deleted the clip that had the proof of the beating. 

Here's the version of the video censored by cops:

Bailey spoke to WAVY about the moment she realized what had happened. "After he got my phone and got it back from me he just let me go," Bailey remembered. "When I looked at my phone he had deleted the video."

Bailey and NAACP president James Boyd watched the video together, and Boyd told the news source, "This was a situation where people were exercising their First Amendment rights. Clearly they weren’t impeding any law enforcement procedures at all, and they fell victim to an aggressive style of law enforcement. That was totally an abuse of power.”

Boyd added, "This open-ended 'we’re investigating' is not good enough. The community wants transparency. When these things happen let’s not hide. Let’s be open. Let’s be fair. If we really want to get to a place where law enforcement can have a true relationship, when these things happen come out with it."

According to the police department, all officers at the scene were wearing body cameras, and those recordings will be reviewed.

The man in the video, who was identified as Marquis Granger, and was arrested on two outstanding warrants. As a result of the incident, he is now facing charges for 7 crimes. 

Granger has since been released on bond, and the unidentified officers in the video are still working on full duty.

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