Shocking footage of a Baltimore police officer appearing to plant drugs at the scene of a crime to implicate a defendant has emerged.
Shocking video showing a Baltimore police officer appearing to plant drugs at the scene of a crime to implicate a defendant has emerged.
The video, which sparked an investigation after it was published on Wednesday, was taken from an officer's body camera during a drug arrest in January this year.
The Baltimore Sun reports the officer has been identified by public defenders as Richard Pinheiro - who is currently an active witness in more than 50 ongoing cases.
The 90-second clip starts by showing the unidentified cop appearing to place a bag of white pills inside what looks like a discarded soup can.
The cop then walks out to the street ahead of two officers who were watching him.
The trio mills about on the street for a few seconds, before audio from the body camera kicks in at the 30-second mark of the clip when he turned his camera on.
There was no sound during the first 30 seconds, as the cameras save video from that time prior to the device being activated but do not record the audio.
The cop is heard saying: "I'm going to go check down here, hold on."
It sounds as though laughter can be heard in the background as he begins walking down the alley back to the scene, the Daily Mail reported.
He then searches around, turning over a few rocks and other items, before picking up the same can he appeared to put the bag of drugs in just a few seconds earlier.
"Yo," he yells out to his fellow officers after pulling the bag out, seemingly to alert them to his "discovery".
The video starts by showing the officer appear to reach down and plant a bag of drugs inside a discarded soup can.
After turning his body camera on, the cop then walked back down the alley way and 'found' the drugs.
The cop then walks back out the alley to the street before the video cuts off.
The cop pulled the bag of drugs out and yelled out to his fellow officers. The defendant related to the case in question has been held since January on 'drug charges'.
The Baltimore Sun reports the defendant in the case related to the video has been held since January on a $50,000 bond he could not pay as a result of 'drug charges' stemming from the video.
The case was scheduled to go to trial last week.
After being sent the video, the prosecutor in charge of the case told WBFF: "I've passed it up and we are all appalled ... something is going to happen because of this revelation."
Charges against the man were dropped one day after the video emerged.
However, Public Defender Debbie Katz Levi was outraged by the clip and the fact that the cop in question has been called to testify in other cases since the department became aware of the shocking footage.
"They had knowledge. They watched it and were appalled by what was on the video, and then for whatever reason made the choice to continue to call him as a witness," Levi told WBFF.
"You can't try a case with that guy and not tell anyone about it."
The Sun cited a note sent from the public defender to Baltimore defence lawyers, reading: "If you have a case dependent on any of these 3 officers, dig your feet in and demand disclosure of their IAD records."
Baltimore Police released a statement reading: "We take allegations like this very seriously and that's why we launched an internal investigation into the accusations.
"We are fortunate to have Body Worn Cameras which provide a perspective of the events as reported."
