A Baltimore police officer was suspended with pay when a viral video captured Saturday (Aug. 11) shows him repeatedly punching and tackling a man.
According to The Baltimore Sun, Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle said he was “deeply disturbed” to see officer Arthur Williams beating 26-year-old Dashawn McGrier. An investigation into the matter has also been launched.
McGrier’s attorney Warren Brown said McGrier faces no criminal charges but was admitted to the hospital to have X-Rays taken of his jaw, nose, and ribs.
“It seems like this officer had just decided that Dashawn was going to be his punching bag,” Brown said. “And this was a brutal attack that was degrading and demeaning to my client, to that community, and to the police department.”
Brown said McGrier and Williams had a prior run-in last June, which resulted in McGrier being charged with assaulting the officer, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstructing and hindering.
The department said the incident began when two cops stopped McGrier, let him go, and then approached him for a second time to give him a citizen’s contact sheet. When McGrier was asked for his identification, the situation escalated with Officer Williams punching McGrier several times.
Brown says his clients was sitting on steps when Williams passed by in the cop car. Moments later Williams walked down the street and stopped him without reason.
“My client was saying, ‘What is this all about? You don’t even have probable cause,’ ” Brown said
Tuggle is asking anyone who may have saw the altercation to please contact the Office of Professional Responsibility
“While I have an expectation that officers are out of their cars, on foot, and engaging citizens, I expect that it will be done professionally and constitutionally,” he said. “I have zero tolerance for behavior like I witnessed on the video today. Officers have a responsibility and duty to control their emotions in the most stressful of situations.”
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