Police Chief Cathy Lanier knows it all about Detective Michael Baylor.
“Let me be very clear in stating that I believe the actions of the officer were totally inappropriate,” she wrote in a statement Monday.
“In no way should he have handled the situation in this manner,” she added. “We have taken swift action by placing him on non-contact status until all the facts are gathered and discipline is handed down.”
Rarely has the chief taken such “swift action” with regard to a fresh police incident that has yet to be investigated.
But it is her last line that is most puzzling, dare I say maddening, to many of her troops. She took Detective Baylor off the street before all the facts were gathered. And she assumed discipline would be “handed down” before those facts were in hand.
One can understand why Lanier would rush to judgment, especially if one is not a cop. It seems so obvious on the surface. One’s knee jerks to one’s chin and out comes the verdict — “cop gone wild!”
Baylor was driving through the 14th and U streets intersection during Saturday’s blizzard when his Humvee was pelted by snowballs. Alerted by social networks, hundreds of young folks had gathered at the intersection to have a good-natured snowball fight.
Baylor, in plain clothes, was not amused. He sensed danger. He got out of his car.
No one knows precisely what happened next. Baylor was trying to talk on a radio or a cell phone. Was he calling a dispatcher? We don’t know. The radio hit the ground. Was it knocked out by a snowball? We don’t know. As Baylor walked toward the crowd, was he pelted with snowballs? We don’t know. At some point he drew his weapon. Why? No one asked him.
What everyone saw was a video posted on YouTube that showed Baylor walking toward the crowd with his pistol at his thigh. Based on that video and random observations from snowball fighters, Lanier took “swift action” and promised discipline.
Videos lie. Would another camera have shown an angry mob converging on a single cop?
My quick investigation shows Baylor is a solid officer. He joined the force in 1980, worked homicide and drugs and detective cases. “He was a steady, professional officer,” says a retired sergeant who worked with Baylor for years. “He was the kind of cop who would get out [of] his car to protect people.
“For anyone to categorize him as an angry guy is not the Baylor I knew. You had to be there to pass judgment,” he says.
Cathy Lanier was nowhere near the scene.
I have investigated a number of cases where the Metropolitan Police Department has rushed to judgment over its own. Most officers have been exonerated — after an internal investigation. Kevin McConnell comes to mind. How about James Haskell and Anthony Clay?
Perhaps Mike Baylor did act in a rash manner. But why pass judgment before any facts are in?
E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected].
