Video appears to show Baltimore policeman
spitting on handcuffed suspect
Send a link to a friend
[October 14, 2015]
By Victoria Cavaliere
(Reuters) - A Baltimore police sergeant
has been suspended and a criminal investigation launched after video
posted online apparently showed the officer spitting on a handcuffed
suspect, the police department said on Tuesday.
|
Cell phone video captured from the incident on Monday appeared to
show Sergeant Robert Mesner, a 34-year veteran of the force,
spitting on a detained man in a "prone position," interim Police
Commissioner Kevin Davis told a media conference.
A bystander's voice in the video is heard yelling "he just spit on
him."
Davis said internal and criminal investigations have been launched.
"We have serious concerns about it," Davis said.
Mesner could not be reached immediately for comment.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Oct/14/images/ads/current/napa_bch1-3108.png) The suspect in the video had been arrested on charges including
second-degree assault of a law enforcement officer and disorderly
conduct, authorities said.
The Baltimore Police Department is due to roll out body-worn cameras
for officers soon to help lend transparency to police interactions
with the community.
"More and more police encounters are going to be captured on
videotape," Davis said. "The police department welcomes that."
Last week, video captured by a bystander on a major city street and
posted online showed a man punching a police trainee and knocking
him to the ground.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_040113.png)
Davis became interim head of the Baltimore police in July. He
replaced former Commissioner Anthony Batts, who had come under heavy
criticism after an unarmed black man died of injuries sustained
while in police custody in April.
The death of Freddie Gray, which came after months of protests over
police use of force in the United States and allegations of racial
bias by law enforcement officials, sparked the worst rioting seen in
Baltimore in half a century.
(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Oct/14/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif) |