Ckick here for VIDEO fotage: Sports fan bashed by cops
FOOTAGE of police brutalising an innocent sports fan in Maryland and rendering him unconscious has shocked America today.
In scenes captured by CCTV cameras, University of Maryland student John McKenna is seen skipping down the street celebrating after watching his university basketball team defeat Duke.
Within seconds he is approached by police on horseback who stand over him before other cops in riot gear swoop and begin beating him with batons, The Sun reports.
Police reports allege it was Mr McKenna who had first been assaulting the cops and their horses causing "minor injuries" as they responded to reports of trouble after the game.
But he never strikes out on the footage - and even tries to back away when confronted.
The FBI are now investigating the incident which left the 21-year-old needing eight staples to repair a gaping wound in his head.
He was also allegedly told by officers in Maryland not to make a fuss about his injuries because they would have to fill out more paper work.
Americans are already drawing comparisons with the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles in 1991. The officers accused of that incident were acquitted sparking rioting across the city which left 53 people dead.
Mr McKenna was arrested and placed in the back of a police van before being taken to hospital.
Charges against Mr McKenna have since been dropped and police chief Roberto Hylton has suspended one officer.
He said: "I was outraged. I was very disappointed at the conduct that I saw on the part of my officers on the video tape."
Mr McKenna's family said in a statement: "Some of these characters ought to go to jail, some ought to be booted off the force, and the remainder should be properly trained to discover that force is not always necessary, and brutality is always wrong."
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