Baltimore County Police , Sgt. In the Woodlawn precinct, William McGladrie repeatedly punched the Black man as different officers stood near, but he was not held accountable for his use of power.
The tale may sound common because , it’s happened before.
Maj. Orlando Lilly wrote about the incident on January 5, 2022 when McGladrie repeatedly punched and headlocked a chained man in the stomach.” This seems to be a style for Sergeant McGladrie.”
According to body-camera videos and police records, the department’s just Black major was talking about 2020, when the sergeant repeatedly punched a distinct Black man in the face inside a corridor holding cell.
In the more recent event, which occurred in October 2022, the district’s domestic affairs area found McGladrie guilty of wrongdoing. A few months later, a police trial board ruled he had n’t used unnecessary force in 2020, either. Another county officers who were present at the time served on the boards who now review cases when officers challenge internal administrative decisions.
Similar results demonstrate how Baltimore County police officers should be punished for using force against suspects.
A review of more than , six decades of officers data , shows state officials reported using power less often in recent years. But, they use force overwhelmingly against Black people. Although about one-third of the people in the county are Black, over two-thirds of the people officials use power against are Black.
Three state officers were charged last month with being involved in a handcuffed Black inmate who was pepper-sprayed and yanked about by his locks in Baltimore City.
The county’s process of reviewing officers misconduct was expanded by recent changes to state laws that came into effect last summer.
Through a demand under the Maryland Public Information Act, The Baltimore Sun obtained files and video related to the internal investigation into McGladrie’s 2022 activities. McGladrie, a 25- time veteran who earned about$ 144, 500 last month, did not respond to various requests for comment.
In April 2023, the three police officers who made up McGladrie’s authorities trial committee decided that he should get a letter of rebuke for swearing in the 2020 pounding, but they disagreed with the Internal Affairs Commission’s finding that he used excessive force. McGladrie’s responses in 2020, including saying,” You gonna move to me? You want to move? Let’s ]obscenity bleeped ] step”, escalated a tense interaction, internal investigators wrote.
During that event, three soldiers, including McGladrie, threw Robert Jackson III to the surface of a holding cell after trading accusations.
” This is racist”, Jackson can be heard saying in the film.
” Yup, it is”, McGladrie answered, after punching him in the face.
Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., a Democrat, said in the fall that he had” concerns” about McGladrie’s conduct in 2020, but that the matter was settled by the police trial board.
Not just one state agent has recently come under scrutiny for using force, including the sergeant.
Police test boards made up of different officers last month overturned internal affairs findings that two officers used excessive force, including an officer who struck an intoxicated man with a department-issued flashlight in 2021, while using a different officer’s force to inflict a compulsion.
Citizens ‘ grievances to Baltimore County officials are now handled by the state’s Administrative Charging Committee in accordance with a new position law. The committee has the authority to file operational charges against officers who violate law, and if officers wish to appeal those charges, the case then moves to a three-person panel consisting of just one police officer, rather than three.
According to , a year-end statement, the charging commission reviewed three use-of-force cases between July and December and cleared the soldiers in each case.
However, Baltimore County Cpl. In Baltimore City, Zachary Small is accused of assault, increased force, and reckless danger. In September, Small chilli- sprayed the experience of a person who was complaining he was n’t breath inside a authorities vehicle, then used the man’s hair to drag his head around as he lay on the ground,  , body- camera video released by police shows.  , Two various county officials, Jacob Roos and Justin Graham- Moore, were indicted on charges of wrongdoing in business for failing to act.
After viewing the 2022 picture of McGladrie, Ryan Coleman, chairman of the Randallstown NAACP, said he saw similarities between his behavior and those of Small. He called it “problematic” that both people are directors.
” Anyplace you’re having people reach people who are handcuffed, or chilli- apply people who are handcuffed, it’s just too much”, Coleman said. ” You cannot beat a chained believe. There’s just no rhyme or reason”.
According to Ian Adams, an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, officers ‘ use of force is more closely monitored when a person is handcuffed.
” When topics are handcuffed, officials are generally taught that pressure should not be used except in very unusual conditions”, Adams said.
According to McGladrie’s body-camera film, when he approached Jarvis Sewell inside the corridor in 2022, he was standing on a chair jutting out from the ceiling and his hands were cuffed to a table in front of him. Sewell confirmed that he was the man in the picture despite the fact that his name was changed in the files that were made available to The Sun.
According to police information, Sewell was detained after a woman called 911 for violating a protective attempt and disorderly conduct. Court records but indicate that the safe order had already been overturned earlier that day. Prosecutors had rekindle the chaotic conduct fee without recharging Sewell because it was placed on the stet court.
He allegedly argued with soldiers inside the Woodlawn neighborhood, and he refused to take off his sweatpants and follow another orders, according to several videos.
Officer Sean Langeheine turned around and bent over to lock Sewell’s arms. McGladrie instructed him to lay before pressing one of his legs to make him sit on the bench.
” Have a chair, have a chair today. ]Obscenity bleeped. ] Have a seat”, McGladrie said, therefore half punched Sewell in the stomach. As Langeheine shackled Sewell’s arms and Sgt., McGladrie grabbed Sewell’s nose and held it under his arm. Michael Toni stood outside.
” Are we gonna play? Are we gonna sing? Are we gonna enjoy”? McGladrie said, according to the picture.
Sewell described his interactions with police as “normal” in an interview with The Sun.
” A couple of them will be like that”, he said. ” If I’m standing there constrained and there’s two of you, what’s the point of extreme pressure”?
In a statement, McGladrie claimed to have used power to harm himself or another department official. Sewell had “rocked to the side, lifting his feet, probably kicking Soldiers and he stood on a chair and failed to follow guidelines”, McGladrie wrote.
According to Adams, who is an expert witness in policing cases with a focus on use of force, he could not infer from the videos Sewell was about to blow an officer, but interior investigators could have drawn that conclusion from other evidence.
Do you believe that the area at the time was about to posse an imminent danger, i .e. he was about to do something dangerous, is what it boils down to? Adams said.
Adams called it” concerning” that a similar incident happened recently.
” That suggests that there might be a style going on, in which case, a little more supervision would perhaps be appropriate”, he said.
According to domestic affairs authorities, McGladrie acted within coverage by subduing a suspect who was “belligerent and antagonized the officers,” yelling at and ignoring orders.
” With his continued defiance, the tensing/leaning of his body documented by Sergeant McGladrie, and the vulnerable position Officer Langeheine was placed in to apply leg shackles, Sergeant McGladrie’s documented assessment and fear that Mr.]Sewell ] would imminently assault Officer Langeheine was reasonable”, Sgt. In the conclusions of the Internal Affairs Investigation, Christopher Smith wrote.
All this caused McGladrie to use” two fist strikes”, Smith wrote. He also wrote that because of the “perceived threat of imminent assault”, McGladrie’s decision to hold Sewell’s head in the crook of his arm “would be reasonable”.
Before the Internal Affairs investigation, Woodlawn Precinct Capt. Jeffrey Hartman wrote on Jan. 18, 2022, that McGladrie’s use of force was justified, but the sergeant would undergo training for other aspects of the interaction. According to Hartman, officers could have shackled a handcuffed Sewell with “what appeared to be little threat” and that pressing his legs against the ground made it harder to search him.
He said McGladrie would be required to attend a” Verbal Judo Seminar”, which addresses” the skills of persuasion” and” the art of verbal de- escalation to generate voluntary compliance”.
McGladrie attended the seminar in March 2022, according to a police spokesman.
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