Officer Jamal Davis says he isn't comfortable bringing charges against a man but was pressured into doing so by another officer.

When it comes to police misconduct, we are often told that it’s just “a few bad apples” and that the profession of policing is still an honest and trustworthy one. Yet, it’s getting harder to believe that with so many instances of police brutality and misconduct repeatedly being caught on camera. From abusing unarmed, handcuffed suspects, to making up arrest charges, to actually murdering innocent people, there are many reasons for us to feel unsafe around police and to question how they are doing their jobs. One recent incident occurred in Maryland after body camera footage showed one officer telling another officer that a man “didn’t do anything” only to arrest him later anyway. As written by The Baltimore Sun:

The Annapolis Police Department opened internal investigations after an officer pepper sprayed a man following a fight in downtown Annapolis and then arrested him despite telling another officer he “didn’t do anything.” [...] [Officer Jamal Davis] says several times he does not plan to charge [Ryan Greenstreet], but others officers off-screen question his decision. Police eventually charged Greenstreet with interfering with an arrest and [Michael Richardson, who was involved in the fight] with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Everything about this is suspicious. The video shows Davis clearly saying that Greenstreet didn’t do anything but walk toward a fight that Davis and another officer were trying to break up. Walking in the direction of a fight is not a crime. In fact, nowadays plenty of people do so and whip out their cellphones too so they can capture these altercations on film. But somehow, Davis makes the assumption that Greenstreet is not just a witness, but instead that he wants in on the action. So he pepper sprays him—along with anyone else who happened to be around.