City reaches settlement with ACLU, Christopher Sharp
Baltimore City has approved a $250,000 settlement in a case involving claims that police officers erased cellphone video of an arrest.
It happened during the Preakness in May 2010. Christopher Sharp said he hasn't been to the event since, but he'll now consider coming back.
"Originally, I asked for an apology," Sharp told 11 News, nearly four years after the situation unfolded at Pimlico Race Course with Baltimore City police officers.
Sharp on Wednesday received a written apology framed with a picture by 11-year-old Kareena Laufer of the Statue of Liberty holding a cellphone. He also got a handshake from Baltimore City Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, who said his department has a new policy on the rights of citizens who videotape police activity.
"We’re getting it wrong, and we have been getting it wrong. Today, we proudly renew our commitment to getting our Constitutional policing," Batts said.
Video that was posted on YouTube showed police arresting a woman at Pimlico during the 2010 Preakness. Sharp claimed he also recorded what happened on his cellphone, but several officers ordered him to surrender his video. He said he refused, but another officer asked to review and copy it for evidence and then erased it, also deleting 20 other personal videos.
Sharp said after filing a complaint, police made personal attacks and tried to intimidate and discredit him. A federal judge called it a veritable witch hunt.
"It hit really below the belt, in my opinion. That was really hard also. I don’t understand why you do that to someone," Sharp said.
The city reached a $250,000 settlement with Sharp and the American Civil Liberties Union. He will receive $25,000. The rest pays attorney fees and settlement costs.
The City Board of Estimates approved the payment, but council President Jack Young called the agreement ridiculous and costly to the citizens of Baltimore. He said the city should not pay a cent because Sharp could not identify the officers who erased the video.
"The citizens have the right to film us. They have the right to videotape us. They have the right to watch us. We carry guns, which have the right to take human life. We have the right to arrest people. We are held to a higher standard, and we'll be kept at a higher standard," Batts said.
To enforce the new policy, officers and supervisors are required to report violations.
Sharp said what happened disturbed him, and so did the efforts to find dirt on him.
"It made me more determined," Sharp said.
He said his view of the police department now is that it is changing slowly.
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