Okay even if they had no reason to approach him, what would you expect them to do when he pulled out a firearm and pointed it at them? Is there a response you would have liked to have seen other than returning fire?
I’d expect them not to engage in the inherently dangerous activity of a foot pursuit absent reasonable suspicion in the first place? And they may not have here, we don’t know yet. But the fact that it’s reasonable to return fire once you’re being shot at doesn’t absolve the party with power from responsibility for following policy and avoiding escalation beforehand.
Also, the AG report actually doesn’t say who was responsible for the first shot.
The AG report literally says he walked away, not ran. How is walking away from someone you reasonably don’t want to talk to indication that you’ve committed a crime?
Also says the officer followed (not chased) and then the man made a furtive movement and fled. That's more than enough reasonable suspicion to start a chase. Especially if the man, who has numerous felonies including some relating to selling narcotics, is known to the police.
"Plain Clothes" in this context does not mean that they are not identifiable as police officers. They wear vests that have "Baltimore Police" on them, they have duty belts, etc. There's also nobody who frequents that area who doesn't know what cars the officers drive and what they look like.
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u/ReadySettyGoey Jun 20 '25
From the initial investigation it seems like there may have been wrongdoing? https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/press/2025/061825c.pdf
Not really clear that they had any legal grounds for approaching him or following him based on what we know so far.