- Police Brutality Watch

Black High Principal Beat Down During Diabetic Attack
The Springfield Police Commission has begun hearings into allegations that a school principal was beaten by police while he was having a diabetic attack. Commission Chairman Timothy J. Ryan said heard six hours of testimony Wednesday at the probable cause hearing to determine whether disciplinary charges should be brought against the five officers. The hearing will continue on Friday, he said. Douglas Greer, principal of the Robert M. Hughes Academy Charter School in Springfield, has filed a federal lawsuit against the officers. He claims that he started to feel disoriented, a symptom of the onset of a diabetic attack, after pulling his BMW into a convenience store parking lot on Nov. 4. A store clerk called the police after noticing Greer's car had been parked for awhile. Greer, who is black, says the white officers broke his car window, pulled him through the opening,and kicked and choked him after accusing him of being on drugs. The officers, Jeffrey M. Asher, James F. Kervick, James L. Shewchuck and James M. Moriarty, and Richard D. Reid were placed on administrative duty following an internal police investigation. [more]