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Baltimore Sun
A Baltimore police officer was suspended Monday after a YouTube video surfaced on the Internet showing him berating and manhandling a teenage skateboarder at the Inner Harbor.
On the video, the officer, Salvatore Rivieri, puts the boy in a headlock, pushes him to the ground, questions his upbringing, threatens to "smack" him and repeatedly accuses the youngster of showing disrespect because the youth refers to the officer as "man" and "dude."
At one point, Rivieri, a 17-year veteran of the force, says:
"Obviously, your parents don't put a foot in your butt quite enough, because you don't understand the meaning of respect. First of all, you better learn how to speak. I'm not 'man.' I'm not 'dude,' I am Officer Rivieri. The sooner you learn that, the longer you are going to live in this world. Because you go around doing this kind of stuff and somebody is going to kill you."
Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department and the mayor's office, said authorities have begun an internal-affairs investigation.
"The entire incident raised red flags for all of the members of the command staff who watched the video," Clifford said.
He said Monday afternoon that Mayor Sheila Dixon had not seen the video, which appears to have been shot last summer, but that its contents had been described to her and that she was "very displeased."
"We have invested a lot of time and energy in having better relations between the community and the police," Clifford said. "The bad behavior of one police officer can jeopardize a lot of hard work."
Reached at home Sunday, Rivieri said he was not aware that the incident had been recorded or posted to a public Web site. He acknowledged having encounters with skateboarders at the Inner Harbor last summer and told a reporter that he would review the video on YouTube.
"These kids, they've got nothing better to do," Rivieri said.
Monday, after being suspended, Rivieri said, "I have no comment. Thank you."
Attempts to e-mail the person who posted the video were unsuccessful. Police said they do not know the identity of the youth involved or who shot the video.
Clifford said the department has tried to e-mail, through YouTube, the person who posted the video and is contacting area schools in an attempt to find the boy.
Skateboarding is not permitted in the Inner Harbor.
Paul Blair, head of the police union, had not seen the video but cautioned that videos show only a slice of a story. He noted that it is impossible to know what happened before or after the camera was turned on.
The video came to the attention of the police after a Sun reporter e-mailed the link to the police Sunday morning seeking comment.
The video was posted on YouTube on Saturday but probably made late last summer, according to the Police Department.
The 3 1/2-minute video shows Rivieri walking toward a group of boys, one of whom is holding a skateboard. The boy says he did not hear an order that the officer had given him before the video starts.
"Take the earplugs out of your ears. Can you hear me now? Hey, I'm talking to you. Can you hear me?" Rivieri says.
Rivieri tells the boy he is not allowed to use his skateboard.
"OK, I didn't hear you," the boy says.
"Don't get defensive with me," Rivieri says. "You backed off me. I'm not your father. You hear me. I'm not your father. You give that attitude to your father. You give it to me and I'll smack you."
One boy says, "I don't have a father."
"Shut your mouth, I'm talking," Rivieri says.
One boy repeatedly uses the word dude when addressing Rivieri, and the word becomes a point of contention.
"Sit down. I'm not a dude," Rivieri says. He then pushes a boy to the ground and walks away with his skateboard.
"Dude, don't take my skateboard. I didn't do anything, dude," the boy says.
Rivieri replies: "If you call me dude one more time. Are you from the county or something?"
The officer's tone becomes increasingly harsh.
The boy, who says on the video that he is 14, says he wants to call his mother, and later the officer asks to speak with her. It is unclear whether that conversation took place.
The person who made the video does not talk and is never identified, though at one point Rivieri addresses the person with the camera, saying, "You got that camera on? If I find myself on..." The video cuts off before Rivieri finishes his sentence.
Clifford said the boy never made an official complaint to the Police Department and that Rivieri has no other citizen complaints in his file.
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Just another example of a good reason to atleast invest in a digital audio recorder. From the begining of time there have been power trip cops but now-a-days it is so cheap and easy to record such events that hopefully in the next few decades we can pretty much eliminate them. Look, I appreciate normal good cops who do a very difficult job but one power trip deutsch cop is one too many.
It seems as though now that cell phones have cameras it is about once a month or once every two weeks that we see or hear about crap like this. This type of police conduct is not a new thing but the fact that said cops can be exposed is a new thing. I personally think that this is a great thing for the world public. Hopefully my children, if I choose to have children, will look at power hungry officers as some sort of comedic myth.
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Quote:
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A sheriff's deputy who was videotaped dumping a paralyzed man from a wheelchair onto a jailhouse floor has been charged with abuse of a disabled person, a sheriff's official said Friday.
Surveillance footage from Jan. 29 shows Hillsborough County deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones, 44, dumping Brian Sterner out of his wheelchair and searching him on the floor after he was brought in on a warrant after a traffic violation.
Sterner, 32, said when he was taken into a booking room and told to stand up, Jones grew agitated when he told her that he could not.
Marshall-Jones was suspended without pay, and three other deputies were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Marshall-Jones is charged with abuse of a disabled person, a third-degree felony, said Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee.
If convicted, she could be sent to prison for five years.
Gee said Marshall-Jones was aware of the warrant for her arrest, but that he didn't know when she might turn herself in.
Marshall-Jones could not be reached by phone for comment Friday night. A telephone number listed in her name has been disconnected.
Sterner, who can drive a car but has not been able to walk since a 1994 wrestling accident, was arrested at his Riverview home and taken to the Orient Road Jail on a charge of fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer, according to records. He had called for charges to be filed against Marshall-Jones.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F_B
Baltimore Sun
A Baltimore police officer was suspended Monday after a YouTube video surfaced on the Internet showing him berating and manhandling a teenage skateboarder at the Inner Harbor.
On the video, the officer, Salvatore Rivieri, puts the boy in a headlock, pushes him to the ground, questions his upbringing, threatens to "smack" him and repeatedly accuses the youngster of showing disrespect because the youth refers to the officer as "man" and "dude."
At one point, Rivieri, a 17-year veteran of the force, says:
"Obviously, your parents don't put a foot in your butt quite enough, because you don't understand the meaning of respect. First of all, you better learn how to speak. I'm not 'man.' I'm not 'dude,' I am Officer Rivieri. The sooner you learn that, the longer you are going to live in this world. Because you go around doing this kind of stuff and somebody is going to kill you."
Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department and the mayor's office, said authorities have begun an internal-affairs investigation.
"The entire incident raised red flags for all of the members of the command staff who watched the video," Clifford said.
He said Monday afternoon that Mayor Sheila Dixon had not seen the video, which appears to have been shot last summer, but that its contents had been described to her and that she was "very displeased."
"We have invested a lot of time and energy in having better relations between the community and the police," Clifford said. "The bad behavior of one police officer can jeopardize a lot of hard work."
Reached at home Sunday, Rivieri said he was not aware that the incident had been recorded or posted to a public Web site. He acknowledged having encounters with skateboarders at the Inner Harbor last summer and told a reporter that he would review the video on YouTube.
"These kids, they've got nothing better to do," Rivieri said.
Monday, after being suspended, Rivieri said, "I have no comment. Thank you."
Attempts to e-mail the person who posted the video were unsuccessful. Police said they do not know the identity of the youth involved or who shot the video.
Clifford said the department has tried to e-mail, through YouTube, the person who posted the video and is contacting area schools in an attempt to find the boy.
Skateboarding is not permitted in the Inner Harbor.
Paul Blair, head of the police union, had not seen the video but cautioned that videos show only a slice of a story. He noted that it is impossible to know what happened before or after the camera was turned on.
The video came to the attention of the police after a Sun reporter e-mailed the link to the police Sunday morning seeking comment.
The video was posted on YouTube on Saturday but probably made late last summer, according to the Police Department.
The 3 1/2-minute video shows Rivieri walking toward a group of boys, one of whom is holding a skateboard. The boy says he did not hear an order that the officer had given him before the video starts.
"Take the earplugs out of your ears. Can you hear me now? Hey, I'm talking to you. Can you hear me?" Rivieri says.
Rivieri tells the boy he is not allowed to use his skateboard.
"OK, I didn't hear you," the boy says.
"Don't get defensive with me," Rivieri says. "You backed off me. I'm not your father. You hear me. I'm not your father. You give that attitude to your father. You give it to me and I'll smack you."
One boy says, "I don't have a father."
"Shut your mouth, I'm talking," Rivieri says.
One boy repeatedly uses the word dude when addressing Rivieri, and the word becomes a point of contention.
"Sit down. I'm not a dude," Rivieri says. He then pushes a boy to the ground and walks away with his skateboard.
"Dude, don't take my skateboard. I didn't do anything, dude," the boy says.
Rivieri replies: "If you call me dude one more time. Are you from the county or something?"
The officer's tone becomes increasingly harsh.
The boy, who says on the video that he is 14, says he wants to call his mother, and later the officer asks to speak with her. It is unclear whether that conversation took place.
The person who made the video does not talk and is never identified, though at one point Rivieri addresses the person with the camera, saying, "You got that camera on? If I find myself on..." The video cuts off before Rivieri finishes his sentence.
Clifford said the boy never made an official complaint to the Police Department and that Rivieri has no other citizen complaints in his file.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by T-Bone
Hah...I've seen that stupid little car at the harbor. The Inner Harbor seems like a pretty sweet gig too.
I say so, Hot girls and cool places to have lunch. Sign me up. JK, I try to go go down there when the weathers nice for sure. I think I'll check out the National Aquarium and then hit ESPNZone for a MD crab cake and a cold one. Man that sounds good lol.
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