The same officer caught on video punching Deshawn McGrier Saturday also roughed him up during a June 26 arrest, WBAL’s Vanessa Herringreported. A video posted online by McGrier’s friend purported to show that previous encounter.
McGrier's attorney tells me his client was charged in a June 26th incident involving the same officer.
Online court records show McGrier was released from jail June 28th.
Baltimore police officials suspended the officer Saturday after the latest video of his interaction with McGrier went viral, according to USA Today. It’s unclear what prompted the officer to repeatedly punch McGrier at a Baltimore sidewalk.
McGrier, responding to the officer, shouts, “For what?” on the video. He follows that question with, “Don’t touch me,” before the officer begins pounding him.
After bashing the suspect with his fists, the officer wrestles him onto the top of a house’s front steps and delivers more blows. He punches the man’s head multiple times as he lays on the steps, eventually holding him down to the ground. McGrier does not fight back. He’s seen on the ground, bleeding from the mouth.
A second officer at the scene failed to intervene.
TW: Police Violence
This is a video of the @BaltimorePolice reported to be from earlier today.
And this is why folks don’t have any faith in the police. @MayorPugh50, what’s your response to this? What is happening with the consent decree? pic.twitter.com/yABsCZDEmq
After all of that, the police did not charge McGrier with any crime, Herring reported. He was recovering in the hospital Saturday night from a broken or fractured jaw, as well as injuries to his eye socket, nose, ribs, and left leg.
This comes against the backdrop of the Baltimore Police Department struggling to comply with reforms under a federal consent decree. Baltimore worked out a road map for changes in how it polices the city’s Black community. A Department of Justice probe into the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray and a mountain of complaints against the police found that the department was routinely using excessive force against Black residents.
The young man who was killed by a Dallas police officer in his own apartment this morning has been identified as 26-year-old Botham Jean. He worked at the PwC firm in Downtown Dallas. https://t.co/oyjHMdMXVvpic.twitter.com/uSvJWJ062e
The kind and well-loved Robert Lawrence White was gunned down, unarmed, by a Montgomery County police officer. Now his family faces not only this traumatic... https://t.co/Xbrq1PdNdq
Patrick Harmon was shot and killed by police in Salt Lake City, Utah. The district attorney says the shooting was "legally justified." pic.twitter.com/zYBOwlTzRb
Friends and family of Jonathan Heart aka Sky Young, a young #homeless man killed last Sunday at a Walgreens in #Hollywood for allegedly shoplifting, gather tonight to remember the 20-year-old. pic.twitter.com/uiMRiFnutq
Continue reading 54 Black Men And Boys Killed By Police
54 Black Men And Boys Killed By Police
The troubling trend of police killing unarmed Black people has shown no signs of letting up, from Tamir Rice to Botham Shem Jean to Emantic "EJ" Fitzgerald Bradford Jr.,, there appears to be nearly a new shooting every week.
See Also: Alabama Cops Never Notified EJ Bradford’s Family After Mistakenly Killing Him, Aunt Says
Take a look below at the growing gallery of unarmed Black men and boys who have been shot and killed by police.
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