showing a police officer showing repeatedly beating a man confined to a hospital bed. his fellow officer right there filming the whole thing. both officers now facing jail time. here is erielle reshef and we do want to warn you, this video is disturbing. reporter: former paterson new jersey police officer ruben mccausland is going to jail for more than five years after brutally assaulting a suicidal patient inside a hospital twice. in the first incident, mccausland is seen pushing and then punching the man, who is in a wheelchair in a waiting room full of people. you see my cheek? reporter: and in the second, the man on a hospital bed when mccausland puts on protective gloves do it! reporter: and slaps him twice, hard enough to draw blood. a second officer, identified as roger then, recording, that video, showing his face. pleaded guilty in the assault and for falsifying police reports. mccausland also convicted of stealing drugs from the crime
mcdonald s family said the sentence felt like a slap in the face. sentence represents the sentence of a second-class citizen and it reduced laquan mcdonald s life to a second class citizen. we know no sentence will bring back laquan to his family and friends. just like no sentence will fix the concerns of the african-american community. the day before the sentencing, three other police officers were found not guilty of falsifying police reports to protect van dyke. police in tempe, arizona, have released body cam footage of a police officer who shot and killed a 14-year-old this week. police say the teen was, watch this, running from the scene of the burglary at the time, and was carrying a stolen replica of an air gun when shot. other stolen items were found on the teen. the 14-year-old was taken to the hospital where he later died.
i said, where did that come from? reporter: officer melendez was known as robo cop. he was fired by the detroit police department for falsifying police reports and charged for planting evidence in 2003 in a federal court case. a jury found him not guilty. this attorney says he s friends with officer melendez and supports him. he s a good guy, a man s man. i can t say enough good things about him. you know, i don t know the circumstances that he s currently facing, but i would be surprised if he did something that was inappropriate. reporter: in a one on one interview, dent tells me he doesn t do drugs, doesn t sell drugs. a test for drugs following the stop came up negative. dent has no criminal record. they treated me like i killed 100 people, okay? and that s when i now then, this is some type of coverup, okay? the kind of coverup for what
we have on video this officer searching the car and testifying oh allegedly i found it under the passenger seat. of course my client s fingerprints will not be on that bag, we know that. all of a sudden you see the cop reaching into his cop and you see him pull out a baggy. all of a sudden he s got a baggy of rocks. i said where did that come from? reporter: officer me den lez was known as robo cop. he was fired by the detroit police department for falsifying police reports and charged for planting evidence in 2003 in a federal court case. a jury found him not guilty. this attorney says he s friends with officer melendez and supports him. he s a good guy, a man s man. i can t say enough good things about him. you know i don t know the circumstances that he s currently facing but i would be surprised if he did something that was inappropriate. reporter: in a one on one
mcdonald tried to attack him, raising the knife over his head. but none of that is caught on tape. watch again. mcdonald walking quickly. then shot. van dyke is facing murder charges, and three of his fellow officers are accused of falsifying police reports. now on the eve of his trial, the officer is speaking to the local chicago fox affiliate, saying he once contemplated suicide. i had all sorts of thoughts going through my head. i thought about just driving at a high speed into an embankment. reporter: and he s telling the chicago tribune he only fired his weapon because he feared for his life. i never would have fired my gun if i didn t think my life was in jeopardy or another citizen s life was. reporter: and van dyke insists he s not a racist and that he never before fired his weapon. being portrayed as somebody that s trigger happy is highly inaccurate, false, hurtful. reporter: but tonight, some members of mcdonald s family are suggesting that the officer s commen