DeShawn McGrier Suing City, BPD Officer In 'Unprovoked Attack' Caught On Cam In 2018
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A Baltimore man who was seen getting punched repeatedly by a city police officer back in 2018 is now suing the city and the former police officer.
DeShawn McGrier filed a lawsuit against the city and former city police officer Arthur Williams on March 24, 2020 in what his lawyers call an "unprovoked attack" of McGrier on Aug. 11, 2018.
"This ugly exercise of blatant police abuse was broadcast across the country on TV and the Internet bringing shame to an already beleaguered law enforcement agency," McGrier's attorney Warren Brown said in a statement released on May 15. "The abuse occurred in the shadows of the Federal Court order mandating a change in the modus operandi of the BCPD."
A court of appeals ruled against the city's notion that it was not responsible for the actions of its police department.
BPD Officer Resigns After Viral Video Shows Him Attacking Man
Williams resigned shortly after the video surfaced. The police department had initially suspended him.
Here's what happened according to police:
At around 11:45 p.m. on August 11, officers were working a special crossborders crime initiative in the area of the 2500 block of Monument Street.
Two officers encountered a man, whom one of the officers is familiar with. After the first encounter, officers released the man and then approached him again to provide him a citizens contact sheet. When he was asked for his identification, the situation escalated after the man refused.
The police officer struck the man several times before he was taken into custody and received medical treatment for his injuries.
BPD received videos of the confrontation almost immediately, and the Office of Professional Responsibility was dispatched to the area.