Police supervisor charged in altercation
Police say melee at strip club involved Sgt. Henrietta Middleton of city force
A Baltimore Police supervisor who works in the unit that trains officers about the Constitution has been arrested and charged with being drunk and disorderly at a strip club in downtown Baltimore, police confirmed.
Police said Sgt. Henrietta Middleton, a 12-year veteran assigned to the Inspector General’s Office, was charged on a criminal citation with being drunk and disorderly.
Officers had been called to Custom House Avenue, outside Norma Jean’s club on the Block, at around 1:20 a.m. Sunday for a report of a disorderly patron, police said. When officers arrived, they observed Middleton “acting in a disorderly manner” and that she “approached an officer and refused to comply,” according to a statement provided by spokesman T.J. Smith.
Middleton — who earned $125,000 on a base salary of $72,000 in fiscal year 2017, according to salary records — has been suspended. She could not be reached for comment.
A video recorded by a security officer at another club and posted on Facebook shows a large crowd gathered outside Norma Jean’s, and a woman being struck by a male officer who is in uniform.
Gary Massey, 53, said the woman was Middleton, who was off-duty and not in uniform, and the male officer’s response went too far.
“What I saw was a man punching a woman full force in the face, like he was brawling with another man,” Massey said. “I’m not saying she wasn’t out of order or being disruptive, but he’s clearly stronger than this lady.”
Police said the “entire course of events is under internal investigation” and did not identify the male officer.
The past month and a half has seen a string of embarrassing incidents involving Baltimore Police officers. An officer was video-recorded declining to take action on a citizen report of a man with a gun downtown, then a sergeant was charged with getting into a drunken-driving crash while driving a department vehicle.
Then an officer was caught on tape punching a man and eventually indicted on first-degree assault charges. Another officer was charged with assault in July in relation to an incident from two years ago.