PHILADELPHIA, May 20 (UPI) -- The Philadelphia Police Department announced Tuesday it had fired four officers involved in the videotaped beating of three suspects in a drive-by shooting.
Four others were disciplined, and all of the 19 officers involved in the incident will receive refresher training on the proper use of force, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.
The announcement came just two weeks after the officers were seen roughing up the suspects on live television after a car chase.
The Philadelphia Inquirer said the initial reaction to relatively swift action apparently did not satisfy either community activists or fellow police officers.
A representative of the police union called it a "rush to judgment" that should have required a formal investigation.
A Philadelphia activist for the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network told the newspaper that all of the officers at the scene should have been dismissed.
