PHILADELPHIA, July 13 — The city's police chief on Thursday rejected the notion that the beating of a carjacking suspect after he was on the ground was similar to the Rodney King incident that led to street riots in Los Angeles. Video taken from a news helicopter shows the suspect, an African-American man who had already been shot five times, being kicked by a dozen police — some white, others African American.

Police Chief John Timoney told NBC's "Today" show that the while the video was "upsetting" it was taken from a distance that doesn't show what's happening on the ground. Timoney noted that initial inquiries show that as officers tried to arrest Jones he bit one of them.

"Even though he was shot five times," Timoney claimed, "he was still resisting."

 Timoney rejected comparisons by some to the Rodney King incident. "In no way, I think that's irresponsible," he said, citing differences between the two cases.

Rodney King was "clearly not offering resistance ... here we know for a fact that he (Thomas Jones) was resisting," Timoney said.

Timoney also rejected any racial overtones, given that the arresting officers included African Americans.

'DETERMINE ALL THE FACTS'
Mayor John Street has promised "a proper and fair investigation."

"While it would easy to be inflamed by the videotape, we have to determine all the facts," added Street, who is African American. "... we have to keep in mind that the police were in the process of apprehending a criminal suspect who had resisted a number of attempts to arrest him and who had shot a police officer. The tape raises some questions, but the tape also doesn’t show everything that was going on.”

Jones, who appeared to resist officers as he was led away in a chokehold and handcuffs, was taken to a hospital, where his condition has improved from critical to serious. Even though he had been shot and kicked, Jones was walked into the hospital by police.

HOW CHASE STARTED
The incident began when officers saw a car driving erratically and determined it was reported stolen July 1, Timoney said Wednesday. Two officers stopped the car, which sped off after a confrontation and then crashed.

Police then began a running gun battle with the suspect, who jumped into an empty patrol car and allegedly shot an officer in the hand as he reached in to turn off the ignition.

Bertha Jones, 40, said she saw police and the suspect exchange gunfire. The suspect led police on a foot chase around a building across the street and then jumped an iron gate with his hands in the air, as if to surrender, she said.

"The cops ran over and start beating on him," said Jones, who is not related to the suspect. "They was beating on the man. He got one of their guns, started shooting, and by then I ran in the house."

"He fired his shots off. They fired," she said.

At some point, the suspect apparently shot one officer in the thumb. He was in fair condition Thursday.

The suspect then jumped into a police car and fled before the car was stopped by other officers, who then dragged him to the ground where he was kicked.

Police said it was unclear where Jones got his weapon. Detectives were investigating the shooting of the officer, while two Internal Affairs probes are looking into the shooting of the suspect and whether excessive force was used.

Tracey Jones, the suspect’s sister, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that police overreacted: “They had already shot him five times. They didn’t have to beat him.”

The incident also led some to compare it to the arrest of Rodney King, a motorist whose beating by Los Angeles officers in 1991 was caught on videotape and broadcast worldwide.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.