Baltimore Police Chief Calling for Federal Investigation into Officers After Latest Video Shows Contradictions

By Haru Coryne
PINAC
Oct. 06, 2014

Oh, Baltimore.

Last week saw another “use-of-force” arrest caught on video, only a week after a previous video emerged, where the public debate over the very meaning of that phrase continues in its muddled rage.

This time, it was one unarmed man against five officers, all of whom have since returned to work after a short stint on paid administrative leave. Baltimore police insist the officers’ use of taser and baton was justified because the victim, Jamar Kennedy, had been reaching for the cop’s gun.

But then a cell phone video emerged showing Kennedy was just trying to defend himself from repeated blows with the baton.



Although the video doesn’t show Kennedy reaching for a gun, that didn’t stop police from calling a press conference, showing the video to reporters and informing them at one point in the struggle, after they had beaten him repeatedly with batons, that Kennedy ended up on top of an officer and was reaching for the cop’s gun, even though at you can see at 1:00 in this video, nothing can be made out in the video when this was supposedly taking place.

Part of the video can be seen in the above news clip and the Baltimore Sun slowed the video down, removing the audio, to allow readers to decide on their own as to what took place.

On Friday, however, the department’s top brass called another press conference, this time saying they are calling for a United States Department of Justice investigation into the department, considering the latest video is hardly an isolated incident. In fact, the city has dished out $5.7 million in court judgements and settlements in 102 cases since 2011, according to the Baltimore Sun, who conducted a six-month investigation into the department.

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