After punching a handcuffed man lying on a jail bench in the head seven times, one of the two Colorado police officers holding him down finally remembered to yell, “stop resisting!”
The Federal Heights police officers then dragged the man to the ground so officer Mark Magness could hit the man in the head another five times.
But that was not the end.
“Hands behind your head now!” one of the officers screamed as Kent Lasnik lay on the floor with his hands behind his head as Officer Magness continued punching him.
Magness, raging, then stormed through the station, pushing over police equipment, dragging the man into a chair so he could continue punching him in the face, causing the man pleading for the beating to stop to gush blood.
One of the officers tried to warn Magness that he was being recorded by his body camera.
“Fuck that!” screamed Officer Magness, who has a history of violence and anger control issues, [__according to KDVR.__](http://kdvr.com/2015/06/30/body-cam-shows-federal-heights-officer-with-history-of-violence-beating-suspect/)
“I don’t care! Strap him to the chair!”
Magness then choked the man, which was even concerning for the other officers that had been assisting or watching the beating.
In December of 2014, Magness was fired for this incident, which started when Lasnik, a robbery suspect, had trouble exiting a police car and ended with Magness throwing the man in a refrigerator, beating him inside a holding cell and choking him in the middle of the police station.
Last month, the former Federal Heights officer pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault for his brutal behavior.
After pleading to a laughably small charge compared to the crimes he actually committed, Magness was sentenced to a mere one year of probation and court costs.
Let’s focus for a moment not on the criminal justice system making criminal allowances for a police officer – that seems to be expected at this point.
Instead, realize that Magness pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment in 2009 and was allowed to remain a Federal Heights police officer. Federal Height Police Chief Karl Wilmes said he did not know why Magness was not fired for the earlier incident – but why was he hired in the first place?
A police officer is given a unique combination of authority and power, with a gun and taser strapped to his belt and an unspoken get-out-of-jail free card. In choosing who should be given such rare power, a wise leader would choose only responsible, thoughtful men reluctant to wield power.
In the United States, the opposite is happening.
“There is a policy here in the United States that people of a relatively high IQ are not allowed to become police officers,” said former CIA contractor Steven Kelley in an [__interview with Press TV, as covered here by FilimgCops.com__](http://filmingcops.com/ex-cia-contractor-confirms-police-departments-use-tests-to-ensure-applicants-lack-logic-and-compassion/).
> Evidently if an applicant shows signs of relatively high IQ — with excellent logical analytic abilities and a sense of compassion — that applicant will be weeded out of the hiring process. The way that the applicants are weeded out is apparently by means of initial testing.
> “There is actually a test given to applicants and if they score too high they are not eligible to join law enforcement,” Kelley said.“They require people that are incapable of logical compassionate thinking.”
The systematic search for new officers lacking compassion, combined with [__training that teaches officers to fear citizens__](http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/police-gun-shooting-training-ferguson/383681/) and an armament of military proportions, has created the rabid, gang-like police force we are witnessing across America.
The solution to the law enforcement crisis is simple – fire the officers with a history of unnecessary violence – and start hiring and training officers who respect the public and the law. It starts with you – you can organize a campaign to elect people for mayor and city council that would truly care about real change.
https://youtu.be/zd_ndmLi6fc
