Baltimore police are investigating themselves after they were caught on video entering a home without a warrant, then brutalizing and arresting a teen resident who asked if they had one.
Police then searched the home for drugs, but didn’t find any.
In the video, Tionne Jones told the lieutenant blocking his front door from being shut to leave, and noted he did not have a warrant.
But the lieutenant stubbornly stood in the door, refusing to leave.
“I need to talk to the property owner,” repeated the lieutenant.
“What do you mean do I live here? This is our house!”
“I need to talk to the property owner. You’re not the property owner.”
“This is my house!” said Tionne Jones while several of his friends behind him simultaneously protested, “we live here!”
Then, another cop comes up and yanks Jones off the stairs, throws him to the ground and then arrests him on a charge of disorderly conduct while the other officers search the home for drugs.
“That don’t matter,” said the cop as he jerked Jones off the stairs and onto the sidewalk.
The video continues as angry onlookers express their anger towards police at the scene.
Neither cop has been identified.
The incident occurred on Saturday. Police and prosecutors dropped the charge against the teen today.
According to the Baltimore Sun, the illegal search and arrest are already under internal review.
After the blatant civil rights violation, Baltimore police and prosecutors colluded to cover up the violation that caught on camera, but at least they’re addressing it.
Baltimore Police Spokesperson T.J. Smith stated,”[the] executive team met to discuss this issue and the circumstances surrounding the arrest, and determined that criminal charges were not appropriate in this situation.”
A spokesperson for the State’s Attorney’s Office urged, “a careful review of the incident, prosecutors agreed with police that it was not appropriate to bring charges in this matter.”
According to the Sun, police received calls about the 800 block of Barclay Street in the Baltimore’s Greenmount West neighborhood about a “large number of people” and “possible drug activity”.
On Saturday, the lieutenant at the beginning of the video said, [he] “observed a person knocking on a door and then a window and then trying to get into the home through the window.”
But it was really just the young man who recorded the video, Antonio McLaurin. He explains in the video that he went to the front door and knocked. When he was unable to get someone to come to the door, he went to the back door and ultimately climbed through a window.
The thing is, he lives there.
“All I was doing was knocking on the door to get in the house. I wasn’t bothering anyone or nothing. I’m tired of being harassed. I’m scared every time I see a cop.”
And McLaurin’s mother, Tawanda, is actually a retired Baltimore Police Officer.
She said she was “ashamed” and “very disappointed in Baltimore City” after she watched the video.
“He said to me, ‘This could have been another Freddie Gray incident,'” said Tawanda Mclaurin.
“You know, as a retired officer, how that made me feel?”
“I wore the uniform, I did this job, but I treated people as humans. I’m hurt. It’s hard to describe.”
As for the Antonio Mclaurin, he said he just wants his video to make a difference in how police handle situations like this one.
“I just hope the officers get what they deserve, fired or anything.”
“It’s just crazy.”
Update: Baltimore police are also in the news this week after being sued by Kerron Andrews for a stealth cell phone tracking device that masquerades as a cell phone tower violated his 4th amendment, before it helped police put him in jail.
He is suing the Baltimore Police Department for a ‘flagrant disregard’ of his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable government intrusion.
The post Watch: Baltimore Police Investigating Themselves After Warrantless Home Invasion appeared first on PINAC News.
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