Baltimore City Police Officer Found Not Guilty on All Charges

September 18, 2024 — This week, attorneys Brian Thompson and Patrick Seidel successfully defended a Baltimore County Police Corporal who was charged with multiple crimes, including misconduct in office and excessive force, in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. In September of last year, the State’s alleged “victim” had been arrested in Baltimore County for four separate armed robberies of fast-food restaurants. 

The subject had a lengthy criminal history involving serious, violent offenses, including past convictions for armed robbery and armed carjacking. When arrested, the subject advised the arresting officer that he had been shot in the hand and arm a few weeks prior and was scheduled to have surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital later that day. The police agreed to transport him to the hospital and, once at Hopkins, the subject managed to distract the officer who was guarding him, break the steel chain on his leg shackles, and escape from custody.

Read the Baltimore Banner’s reporting here

Read the Baltimore Sun’s reporting here

Following a multi-jurisdictional manhunt, the subject was apprehended a short time later by the Baltimore City Police. Our client was one of the first officers to arrive on the scene and took custody of the subject. Soon, several other County Officers arrived and joined the multiple City Officers who remained on the scene. Our client remained the ranking County Officer, but there was a City Sergeant on the scene making him the ranking officer overall. The subject was at first cooperative but as our client attempted to place him into the back of a county police cruiser, that was running with the air conditioning on, the subject blocked the door from being shut with his knee. Our client repeatedly warned the subject not to resist and physically pushed his knee out of the path of the door.

Within 45 seconds of being in the back of the car, the subject began screaming that he couldn’t breathe and banging on the window. As indicated, the car was running and the temperature that day was 68 degrees Fahrenheit, so every officer on the scene knew that the subject was lying about not being able to breathe. 

At this point, our client opened the door and, using very stern language and tone, warned the subject again, that if he continued to kick the window and door, he was going to spray him with OC spray, commonly referred to as “pepper spray.” Our client then attempted to close the door three separate times and each time the subject blocked the door with his elbow, preventing it from closing. At this point, our client announced that he was going to spray the subject to warn the other officers and deployed the spray into the subject’s face in a manner consistent with his training. This action allowed officers to secure the subject in the vehicle for transport. However, a short time later, the subject reacted by kicking the door and window even harder. It would obviously not be safe to transport the subject while he was engaging in this behavior, so they removed him from the vehicle to place him in the “recovery position”—which consists of lying the subject on the ground on his side. Officers are trained to place subjects who have been sprayed in this position to help them recover from the effects of the spray.

The subject again refused to cooperate, first dropping limply to his knees and then resisting attempts to be placed in the recovery position. Our client, acting in real time, grabbed him by his hair to control him and force his compliance. He held his hair for exactly 28 seconds and released it immediately upon the subject relaxing his body and submitting to his control. The subject was not injured in any way—a fact that he confirmed on video once he was interviewed back at the station. 

Despite the lack of injury, our client was indicted by the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office of violating the newly enacted Use of Force Statute, as well as Second Degree Assault, Reckless Endangerment, and Misconduct in Office. Three other Baltimore County Officers were also indicted for failing to intervene, which is a requirement under the new statute if the officer perceives that excessive force is being utilized by another officer. Interestingly, no Baltimore City Officers were charged, even though many remained on the scene throughout our client’s interaction with the subject. 

The trial lasted seven days, after which the Court acquitted our client of all charges, concluding correctly that the officer had not used excessive force in dealing with a violent criminal who had already escaped custody once. 

In Mr. Thompson’s closing argument, he argued that not only had the Corporal not violated the law, but that this was a “textbook application of force” because he managed to subdue a violently resisting subject and get him into custody without injuring him in any way.

For more information or a free consultation, call Brian Thompson at 410-659-9930.