Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle called what he saw in a video unearthed this weekend capturing a Baltimore Police officer beating another man repeatedly "extremely disturbing," in his remarks to the media at a press conference Monday.
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“My preliminary review, particularly of the public video, is extremely disappointing to me," Tuggle said at a press conference. "I don’t think there was any room for the activity I saw on that, and it is extremely disturbing."
The officer seen striking another man repeatedly resigned over the weekend, police said Monday morning. The second officer seen in the video has been placed on administrative duties as police investigate the incident. Tuggle said a criminal investigation between the police department and the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office is ongoing.
“I want the community know that these issues are not going to go unaddressed," Tuggle said. "When they arise, we’re going to address them."
Tuggle said he could not release the name of the officer who resigned due to the constraints of the Law Enforcement Officer's Bill of Rights, a state law that dictates how police are treated during potential misconduct investigations, among other stipulations.
The officer from the video was a recent graduate of of the police academy, and Tuggle said the situation may highlight areas that need improvement within the training process, as well as deficiencies in oversight and leadership.
Tuggle said officers are schooled on the consent decree in their training, and are taught to act, "in a nonemotional way." He said if officers are seen reacting emotionally, another officer should intervene, either in a peer-to-peer sense, or from a supervisor to an officer. Situations like this stress the need for first and second-line level leaders to be attuned to the emotional states of their officers so outbursts can be avoided, Tuggle said.
“Training is a huge part of this," Tuggle said. "We have to refine our training to try to avoid that.”
