by KYW's John McDevitt

The preliminary hearing for three shooting suspects -- whose controversial beating by police was caught by a TV news helicopter camera earlier this month (see related story) -- has been postponed to mid-July, and arrest warrants have been issued for three witnesses in the shooting case.

Friday's hearing was postponed because the three people shot did not show up for the court date. The preliminary hearing is now scheduled for July 17th.

Even though the hearing was postponed, there was plenty of activity outside the courtroom on Friday.

Wearing a t-shirt that read "Police brutality, when will it end?," Yolanda Dyches (below right) -- the aunt of 24-year-old Dawayne Dyches, one of the three men charged with attempted murder -- expressed anger at reports that several of the officers allegedly involved in the beating are back on the street:

"They should not be on the street. They want to call these young men thugs? They are thugs in uniforms! That's what they are. When they attempted to beat them down like that, they are thugs. It's not justifiable. If you call them thugs, you are wearing a uniform of a thug. It's not justifiable.  We need to stand up, and we  are going to fight. We are going to fight!  We are seeking justice."

But a Philadelphia Police Department spokesman says that none of the officers identified in the May 5th incident in Feltonville are back on the street. 

Lt. Frank Vanore says that 10 of the 18 officers have been "stripped" of their police powers, and the eight others have been assigned to desk duty. A 19th officer identified in the incident, he adds, is a SEPTA transit officer and not under Philadelphia Police Department jurisdiction.

Many people who were in the courtroom were upset that the three shooting suspects were denied bail.