UPDATE: Aug. 14, 2018 at 6:08 p.m. ET
Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby
announced at a press conference Tuesday that officer Arthur Williams, seen on video repeatedly punching a civilian, has been charged with first and second-degree assault, as well as misconduct of an officer.
ORIGINAL STORY
From the death of Freddie Gray in 2015 to a recent incident where the violent actions of an officer was caught on video, using excessive force against Black residents, even by Black cops, is engrained in the work culture of the Baltimore Police Department.
A cellphone video, captured on Saturday, has gone viral on Facebook and Instagram. An officer can be seen in East Baltimore shoving 26-year-old Dashawn McGrier in the chest before punching him. McGrier doesn’t fight back, and attempts to shield himself from the officer.
Nevertheless, he continues to relentlessly throw punches, and pushes McGrier over some steps. When the video ends, the officer is on top of him.
Warning: This video contains violence and graphic language.
The police officer has resigned, and investigators are looking at charging him with second-degree assault, and the second officer at the scene remains off patrol and on administrative duties. Both officers were wearing body cameras, which are still under review.
The State’s Attorney’s Office was contacted and given information related to this case.
The police department has not released the name of the cop throwing the punches, but McGrier’s attorney, Warren Brown, identified him as Arthur Williams, according to
The Baltimore Sun.
“The video is extremely disappointing to me,” Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle said, in
a news conference on Monday. “I don’t think there was any room for the activity I saw on that.
“And it is extremely disturbing. There shouldn’t be a breakdown, and that’s why I’m so disturbed about this.”
Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle
At around 11:45 p.m. on Saturday, officers were working a special cross-borders crime initiative, according to authorities.
Two officers met with McGrier, and one of the officers knew him, presumably Williams. After speaking with him, officers released McGrier and then approached him again to provide him a citizens contact sheet. McGrier was asked for his identification, and he refused. That’s when the situation escalated.
However, McGrier’s attorney said his client had been harassed for months by Williams.
The Sun obtained a cellphone video of the officer restraining McGrier, in a separate incident, on June 26.
McGrier was hospitalized Saturday and wasn’t charged. Brown said, at the news conference, the incident was “a tremendous setback in our effort to build a desired relationship between the community and law enforcement.”
In 2017, a federal judge
approved a consent decree between the city of Baltimore and the U.S. Department of Justice, mandating sweeping police reforms.
The consent decree followed a Department of Justice investigation of the police department, which found extensive unconstitutional and discriminatory policing in the city — especially in low-income and predominantly Black communities.
