Crime & Safety

Video Captures Baltimore County Police Threatening Videographer

Warning: Video contains foul language.

Warning: Material in the video contains expletives.

A weekend disturbance in Towson has made its way into the ranks of Reddit and Vimeo and ultimately, on the radar of the Baltimore County Police Department.

At 1:45 a.m. Sunday, there was an incident involving a large crowd in the 400 block of York Road that prompted officers from Baltimore County, Baltimore City Auxiliary and Maryland State Police to respond, the Baltimore County Police Department reported Tuesday.

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Officers from various agencies often assist with routine weekend patrols in the entertainment district, according to Elise Armacost, director of media and communications for the Baltimore County Police Department.

"...on-duty officers witnessed a disturbance among several members of a large crowd in the 400 block of York Road," according to Baltimore County's report.

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One person who also witnessed it was an unidentified man who recorded two people being arrested and an officer asking him to leave the scene.

Police said that a man and woman were charged with resisting arrest, disturbing the peace, second-degree assault and marijuana possession.

The man filming the arrests on the sideline was confronted by an officer, who advised him to leave the scene because he was detracting attention from the incident at hand.

"Walk away and shut your [expletive] mouth or you're going to jail," the officer said.

"I thought I had freedom of speech here," the videographer said, in the video, which is attached.

"You don't," the officer said. "You've just lost it. Walk away. Keep your mouth shut."

The video was linked to on Reddit, a website that bills itself as "the front page of the Internet," Tuesday morning with the headline "WOW—Who Knew Towson Police Could Revoke the Constitution?"

The Baltimore County Police Department became aware of the video when a local TV station called to inquire about it, Armacost said.

Police then became interested in speaking with the videographer. "This [video] generated an investigation because we have concerns about the behavior displayed by some of the officers," Armacost said. "The videographer committed no crime, nor was he arrested."

On Tuesday, Baltimore County police released the following statement:

"Baltimore County police have become aware of and are investigating a 2:24 video depicting an altercation between an officer and a male civilian in Towson.

"The video shows an officer confronting a male who is filming the arrests.

"The person filming the incident was not arrested and has not come forward to file a complaint. BCoPD has begun an investigation of this incident and would like to talk to the person who was filming so that a complete picture of what happened can be constructed. Recognizing that a video often represents only a small part of an incident, investigators want to know more about what happened before and after the events depicted on the video.

"BCoPD recognizes and respects the right of citizens to film officers on duty, in a public place, unless the person filming has violated some law or statute."


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