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The above incident was recorded on March 3rd at the campus of the University of Maryland after Maryland defeated Duke in basketball. In the video, students can be seen celebrating the win as officers in riot gear and on horseback are nearby. Some students are holding up their cellphones, taking pictures or video of the officers and the celebration.



The video shows a student identified as John “Jack” McKenna skipping down the street and approaching two officers on horseback. After a brief exchange, two officers on foot slam McKenna against a wall and he falls to the ground. A third officer joins the first two, and the three strike McKenna with nightsticks while he is on the ground as other students scatter. The officers deliver roughly a dozen blows as the student crumples to the ground.



McKenna had a cut on his head that required eight staples to close, said Sharon Weidenfeld, a private investigator working for McKenna’s attorney, Chris Griffiths. In addition, he had a concussion, a badly swollen arm and bruises elsewhere on his body.



John McKenna, 21, was subsequently charged with “felonies on suspicion of assaulting officers on horseback and their mounts.” Yes, you read that right: the police charged for assaulting police officers and their horses.



Luckily, charges were dropped after the video surfaced. Currently, several police officers are under FBI investigation for the beating and subsequent fabricated charges.