SC Cop Suspended After Video Showing Suspect Being Punched

A Columbia, S.C., cop has been suspended without pay after the leak of a video that appears to show him punching a suspect multiple times, USA Today reports.

Officer Tyrone Pugh is facing an internal investigation, as well as a separate investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, regarding an incident that happened while, authorities say, Pugh and four other off-duty officers were attempting to control a crowd after a fight broke out outside a nightclub early Sunday morning. The officers were in the nightclub’s parking lot when the fight broke out, the news site notes.

Cellphone video of the incident appears to show the officer repeatedly hitting a man who is cowering on the ground.

“Why are you punching him!?” a bystander shouts.

“Back the f—k up!” the officer retorts.

According to the police, Pugh has never had a disciplinary action taken against him since he joined the force in 2007.

Read more at USA Today.