Officers had been called to Custom House Avenue, outside Norma Jean’s club on the Block, at around 1:20 a.m. Sunday for a report of a disorderly patron, police said.
After the woman, allegedly, refused to comply a male Baltimore police officer began punching the woman and it was all captured on video.
A security officer from another club recorded the incident and posted it on Facebook. The video showed a large crowd gathering outside Norma Jean’s, and the woman being struck in the face and thrown to the ground by a male officer who was in uniform.
Gary Massey, 53, said the woman, who happened to be a sergeant with the Baltimore Police Department, off-duty and not in uniform, was handled far too aggressively.
“What I saw was a man punching a woman full force in the face, like he was brawling with another man,” Massey said. “I’m not saying she wasn’t out of order or being disruptive, but he’s clearly stronger than this lady.”
The woman has been identified as Sgt. Henrietta Middleton, a 12-year veteran on the force. She was arrested and issued a citation.
Other witnesses at the scene also stated that the angry police officer wasn’t listening to Middleton as she informed him that she was an officer on the force as well.
Security and police officers attempted to intervene.
One witness, who didn’t want to be identified, stated: “He wasn’t arresting her. He threw that lady on the ground like she was a rag doll.”
“When she was on the ground, the lady [Middleton] told her ‘security’ — that she was police and so that security could state that to the officer because she didn’t — he wasn’t hearing her,” the witness said.
The Baltimore Police Department said, in a statement: “When officers arrived, they observed the patron acting in a disorderly manner. The female patron approached an officer and refused to comply. She was arrested and charged on a criminal citation for drunk and disorderly conduct. She was identified as Henrietta Middleton, a 12-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, who is currently assigned to the Inspector General’s Office.”
Middleton has been suspended and there are no further details regarding the aggressive officer pending an internal investigation.
