Video that went viral over the weekend shows an officer punching a man multiple times and then tackling him

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A Baltimore police officer caught on video repeatedly punching a man has quit the force, police said.

The Baltimore police department said on Twitter late Sunday night that the interim commissioner, Gary Tuggle, accepted the resignation of the officer involved in the incident.

“This remains an active criminal investigation,” the department said.

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Video that surfaced online and went viral over the weekend shows an officer punching the man around the head multiple times and then tackling him.

The city has not identified the officer, but a lawyer for the man who was punched told the Baltimore Sun the officer was Arthur Williams.

A second officer involved in the run-in has been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of an investigation, according to the department.

“I am deeply concerned by the conduct I witnessed today,” Tuggle said in a statement on Saturday. “I have zero tolerance for behavior like I witnessed on the video today. Officers have a responsibility and duty to control their emotions in the most stressful of situations.”

According to police, the incident happened around 11.45am on Saturday when two officers approached the man, who one of the officers “was familiar with”, for reasons that were not spelled out. They released him, and then approached him again to provide a citizens contact sheet, a form city cops are required to fill out after interactions with residents.

Things escalated after the man declined to provide identification, the department’s account says.

Video shows the man and one of the officers exchanging heated words before the confrontation turns physical, with the cop punching the man repeatedly before he falls to the ground, where the officer continues to throw punches and jumps on top of him.

The officer who threw the punches, who has been with the department for about a year, was suspended with pay before he resigned.

The man who was beaten was released from custody and was not charged with any crime.

The man, named as Dashawn McGrier, 26, had a previous run-in with Williams in June, and was at that time charged with assaulting the officer and other offenses, his lawyer, Warren Brown, told the Baltimore Sun. The lawyer said he was unfairly targeted in both incidents and was taken to the hospital for injuries suffered on Saturday.

“It seems like this officer had just decided that Dashawn was going to be his punching bag,” Brown said. “And this was a brutal attack.”