Video: Baltimore Police Officer Slaps and Kicks 16-Year-Old Student

The videotape below has shocked many people both inside and outside of Baltimore. A Baltimore school police officer is shown slapping and kicking a teenage youth while a second officer watches. The video raises the suitability of either officer to serve in the department as well as the question of potential criminal charges of assault.

The two officers responded to REACH Partnership School after a report of two “intruders.” The officers say that they determined that the two were not students by consulting with school administrators, who could not identify them. However, the parents of the child being beaten says that he is in fact a student at the school. The parents went to the school to speak with the Principal James Gresham but was told that he was busy despite waiting to see him.

Here is the videotape:

I cannot imagine the defense that could be raised by either of these officers. The teenager is not threatening the officer or resisting at the time of the assault. That would seem an easy matter for termination and possible criminal charges.

The other officer does nothing. The key for that second officer is to confirm whether she immediately informed her supervisors or sought aid for the student. She should still have intervened but the failure to act after the assault should be enough to terminate her employment.

What do you think?