James Watkins claims he and others in Hope Village apartments in East Baltimore were harassed ? and some detained ? after they tried to record Baltimore police using excessive force.
“It was wrong what they did,” he said. “And we have a right to say something.They didn?t need to arrest us.”
The dispute started Thursday evening, when plainclothes officers looking for illegal guns at the Douglas Homes housing project approached Dondre Quickly, 31.
“When he saw the unmarked police car, he started to walk away, so he was questioned,” said Clifford Sterling, spokesman for the police department.
“He would not take his hands out of his pockets, and he did not have ID. He was taken to the ground and handcuffed without further incident,” on a trespassing charge, Sterling said, noting that Quickly has previous arrests in connection with trespassing.
Quickly is unable to make bail, according to city prosecutors, who also said he has not sought medical attention or seen a doctor in prison.
Watkins said: “There were six or seven police officers, and they were hitting him in the head and stomping on him while was handcuffed. I tried to take pictures with my cell phone, but then they came after me and took my cell phone and said I was never getting it back.”
Police arrested Watkins along with another resident of Hope Village, Antoine Towson.
“I wasn?t charged ? they just took me to Central Booking,” Towson said.
Other residents had similar complaints.
“It wasn?t right beating him up like that, but the officer said if I didn?t go inside, he would Taser me,” said Celestine Fenner, 55, who walks with a cane. “I said I would get my video camera, and they said they would break it.”
A nearby pole camera taped the incident, Sterling said. But “it doesn?t give us a sense of what?s going on, just a lot of people standing around.”
Sterling said complaints of excessive force by police are down 25 percent citywide this year from 2006 and down 68 percent in the Southeast district, where the incident occurred.
