Jessica Anderson
Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE — City officials condemned a viral video that captured a Baltimore police sergeant being kicked by onlookers as he struggled to restrain a male on the ground Friday night.
“I am outraged, as any resident of Baltimore should be, by this incident,” Commissioner Michael Harrison said in a statement. “We cannot, and will not, allow any member of the public, or one of our officers, to be assaulted. We are now working to identify everybody involved and, when we do, they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Harrison said that just before midnight, a sergeant was doing a business check in the 1500 block of Pennsylvania Avenue when a person in the business became argumentative with the sergeant and spat in his face.
A video that appears to capture the aftermath shows the officer straddling a male, attempting to arrest him, as a group of bystanders surround the officer, some of whom then kick the officer. Another person in the crowd can be seen attempting to pull the male away from the officer, dragging the male as the officer continues to restrain him.
“What we saw was appalling, unnecessary, and downright criminal,” Harrison said to news media representatives Saturday before walking through businesses on Pennsylvania Avenue with Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young.
“That’s an assault on a police officer. That is not going to be tolerated,” whether a citizen or an officer, Young said to reporters.
Harrison said he believes the officer acted appropriately.
“Based on our preliminary review of the incident, the sergeant did nothing to provoke the assault, and the sergeant should be commended for using the appropriate amount of force to apprehend his assailant,” he said.
State’s Attorney’s Marilyn J. Mosby also expressed outrage at the video.
“I am disgusted by the blatant assault against the police officer in the video, and my office will work with BPD to bring the perpetrators to justice,” she said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun. “Violence has no place, against anyone. Period.”
Harrison said to media representatives that the sergeant is assigned to the Southern District and was working overtime when the incident occurred. He said the officer’s body camera was not activated during the incident.
Sgt. Mike Mancuso, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun that the sergeant “is a little banged up and recovering.”