Police to conduct an internal probe

Anne Arundel County exec: Investigation to take place after suit against detectives

County Executive Steuart Pittman announced Tuesday that Anne Arundel County police will conduct an internal investigation into the incident that led to a lawsuit against the department, three of its detectives and the county government.

The lawsuit accused three white Anne Arundel County police detectives of making an unjustified arrest in February 2019 of two Black men and alleged that one white officer knelt on Daniel Jarrells’ neck during his arrest. Video provided by the law firm representing Jarrells showed a detective kneeling on the man’s neck area.

Police have said that all use of force incidents are reviewed by the department and that no internal affairs complaint was filed as result of Jarrells’ arrest.

On a Tuesday call with reporters, Pittman also pledged to look for ways to “bring the community in to observe” the investigation, as he said the public lacks trust in police investigating their own.

“We don’t normally do these investigations in a transparent way, but we’re looking at different models for civilian review,” Pittman said. “I feel strongly that we need to build trust ... Too many people believe these investigations are not done thoroughly.”

Daryl Jones, a defense attorney and former county councilman, said it’s incumbent on the police department to conduct a thorough investigation from the get-go. Transparency, he said, is the only way to begin to repair trust.

“The bright lights are on. The microscope is in place. The people are watching,” Jones said.

He added that he’ll be looking to see if the officer who was pictured kneeling on Jarrells has been involved in misconduct before.

“What will be interesting is as you start peeling the onion, you’re going to find out whether the officer has any prior conduct,” Jones said. “Has he been part of these operations before?”

Pittman on Tuesday denounced the conduct of the detectives involved, comparing images of the incident captured by bystanders to those of the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody after a white officer knelt on his neck for about nine minutes.

He said Anne Arundel County officers’ intent was “very different” than those involved in Floyd’s death, as he believes they were not trying to kill Jarrells, but that the images were nonetheless disturbing.

“This could’ve easily been a local George Floyd situation,” said Carl Snowden, convener of the county’s Caucus of African American Leaders. “Fortunately, it was not.”

In light of Floyd’s killing at the hands of police, county Police Chief Timothy Altomare denounced the Minneapolis police officers’ behavior and released an FAQ about the department’s policies regarding use of force. Officials said the department does not teach its officers to use choke holds or neck restraints. However, they said it’s possible such a maneuver may be necessary to save a human life.

The lawsuit says there was no “police or public safety necessity” that justified the detectives’ conduct. Further, the complaint says that the police department’s formal policy is “silent” on neck restraints.

“It’s clearly not the kind of policing that we train and it’s not the kind of policing that I believed that we were doing,” Pittman said.

Pittman admitted Tuesday the policy was not clear enough and said that the county would announce changes within the next day to the department’s policy on choke holds. He said the police department had the power to change its policies without legislative oversight.

Snowden and Jacqueline Boone Allsup, president of the county’s chapter of the NAACP, said they have called on Pittman and Altomare to immediately ban in police policy the use of choke hold-like maneuvers or for any police officer to put their knee on someone’s neck.

Those practices have proven deadly, Boone Allsup said.

Snowden added that Jarrells’ arrest showed the police department’s policies “beg for change.”

Both said the incident underscored the need for body-worn cameras, the funding for which Pittman restored to the budget after Floyd’s killing. They’re slated to be implemented across the department in the next year.

“If there’s ever been a need for why body cameras are essential, this is why,” Snowden said. “If it hadn’t been for a bystander who independently took that video, we would’ve never seen this.”

The county executive said that images in the lawsuit and videos of the arrest would “hurt” the community.

“Symbolically,” Snowden said, “to have a police officer allegedly with his knee on the neck of a resident of Anne Arundel County is shocking.”

Pittman said he and police leaders, including Black officers, would host an online forum at 6 p.m. Wednesday to hear feedback from the community.