BPD Sgt. Ethan Newberg, Officer Arrested For Assault, Was Highest-Paid City Employee In FY19, Records Show
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Despite being suspended without pay in June after being arrested on a number of charges, Baltimore Police Department Sgt. Ethan Newberg was the highest-paid city employee in fiscal year 2019, records show.
Newberg, whose base salary was $107,807, took home $260,775.26 for the fiscal year, according to a city employee salary database. That figure is more than any of his nearly 14,000 fellow city employees.
The data was first highlighted on Twitter Thursday by user @xoamelia.
He was arrested June 6 on second-degree assault, false imprisonment and misconduct charges stemming from an interaction with a man on the street. Since then, he was suspended without pay.
Body-worn camera video shows the man giving his thoughts about officers running a warrant check in the area and asking them to get a man off a wet sidewalk.
Newberg then chased the man down and grabbed him before another officer tackled him, charging documents said.
Police Commissioner Michael Harrison called Newberg's actions "not just wrong, but deeply disturbing and illegal."
Newberg was the second-highest-paid city employee in fiscal year 2018; records show he made $243,000, much of it in overtime.
By comparison, Harrison, who took the job in February, has a $275,000 base salary.
Newberg's gross salary also exceeds that of Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who brought in $238,772.04 during the same period and Mayor Bernard C. "Jack" Young, whose base salary is $184,832. Young earned $127,984.88 in fiscal 2019.
Of the top-10 highest-grossing city employees, seven worked for the police department.
The database did not list gross salary for around 650 employees. Among that group, the highest base salary was just over $150,000.
WJZ has reached out to the police department for comment; as of Thursday evening, that message has not been returned.
