A "a kind of down-and-out guy" in the Rainier Valley:

Seattle police have opened an internal investigation into the arrest last week of a man who a witness said was punched by an officer after he was handcuffed and on the ground, according to a department spokesman.

The arrest was witnessed by a freelance radio reporter, who called her boyfriend, a KIRO radio talk-show host, to the scene. They claim they were met with denial, belligerence and anger by a sergeant when they asked how the reporter, Vanessa Romo, could file a statement about what she had seen.

Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, a department spokesman, said Tuesday that Romo's version of events appears "pretty consistent with what happened" — punches apparently were thrown after the suspect was in custody and handcuffed. [...] "She's right. That's what she saw," Whitcomb said. "Force was used. What we are going to be looking at is whether that use of force was within policy and within the law."

For fuck's sake, is there no end in sight?