Commissioner of Baltimore Police Richard Worley stood up for an officer who was shown on body-worn camera footage in May striking a 24-year-old man’s temple while he was being detained on a sidewalk.
Worley stated that the cop had not been suspended and was carrying out his duties.
“I’ve been in that position that officer was in,” Worley stated. “You’re scared, you’re fighting for your life ’cause you don’t know what he’s going to do.”
Police responded to an armed robbery scene in the 1500 block of Washington Street just before the incident. Authorities thought Jaemaun Joyner was the armed robbery suspect, according to charging records.
Joyner tried to flee before being apprehended by local officers, according to body camera footage, but they caught him in the act.
Officers said, “He’s reaching for something,” several times.
Joyner asked the officers, “What did you just put in my pocket?”
The police commanded, “Do not reach, do not reach.”
Joyner’s lawyer, Tony Garcia, claimed his client was in the region that day to attend a friend’s memorial and offer their condolences. He added that Joyner did not fit the victim’s description of the suspect that the police had received.
“My client is 5’7, he’s not 6 feet,” Garcia stated. “He’s not wearing a hoodie and he’s not even wearing the same colors. So, the only thing he shares with these armed robbers is the color of his skin.”
The charging documents specify Joyner was discovered carrying a loaded pistol. Garcia called the response overly dramatic.
“It was outrageous, it was over the top and it’s brutal,” Garcia stated.
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Just a few days before the attorneys announced that the trial would begin on Thursday, this week, the accusations against Joyner were dismissed. After more than 50 nights in jail, he was eventually released; according to his family, this experience altered him.
“There’s no relief anywhere because my son is suffering,” Rhonda McCain, Joyner’s mother stated. “Everything don’t need have to be resolved with a gun being drawn, and not just drawn, to someone’s head.”
According to Worley, the event is still being looked into. Joyner’s lawyers, meanwhile, are considering filing a civil lawsuit.
