City reacts to police incident

Just a week has passed since the videotape of a violent police arrest, leaving many wondering whether last Wednesday's incident will harm Philadelphia's image as "the City of Brotherly Love."

And on Tuesday -- just six days after Thomas Jones was shot during a police chase after he was pulled from a stolen police vehicle and beaten by over a dozen police -- a man was shot to death by an Amtrak police officer after witnesses said he was harassing passengers.

Both events are currently being investigated by the Philadelphia police to see if excessive force was used in either incident.

Philadelphia now faces allegations of possible police misconduct just weeks before tens of thousands are to descend on the city for the Republican National Convention.

And with the recent incident making headlines throughout the nation, city officials acknowledged that those coming to the city for the convention are likely to think of the event.

City Councilman David Cohen said that the events were "bad timing because of the RNC" -- and already generating bad publicity for Philadelphia.

"Everything we're reading about how the nation views [the incidents] indicates that the image of Philadelphia right now is not a good image, not one that we would want," he said.

Roland Lee, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department, also said that he anticipated that people would scrutinize the actions of the police during the convention in the aftermath of the two unrelated events.

"Last week's incident happened at an unfortunate time," he said. "The world is looking at us."

City Councilman Frank Rizzo agreed that visitors would think of the incident when they came to Philadelphia, but he said he didn't think it would greatly damage the city's image.

"Obviously, our visitors will realize we had an incident here," Rizzo said.

But while some believe that the situation will tarnish the city's image, Rizzo said he remained optimistic that the RNC won't be overshadowed by the event.

"I don't think that sophisticated, intelligent individuals will think that this is negative about the city," he explained. "There are many people working on this, and I think many people realize things like this happen."

Rizzo added that he hoped RNC visitors approached this with the same attitude he saw in many Philadelphians -- "wait and see the results."

Philadelphia Mayor John Street and Police Commissioner John Timoney have repeatedly promised to conduct a thorough investigation.

Jones was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, assault, resisting arrest and other offenses.

The man shot at 30th Street Station, believed to be homeless, was threatening those around him and using profane language, according to witnesses, and was being escorted out of the train station when he picked up a chair and threatened officers with it.

Cohen said that while the city was responding in a "respectable" way, he remained concerned.

"We respect the work the police do, but implicit in that is that the police need to be specially trained," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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