Police Investigating After Video Shows Officer Pulling Man Out of House To Arrest Him

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore police have dropped the charges against a man whose arrest was partially caught on video, and the actions of a city officer and a lieutenant are being internally investigated.

The video was posted on Facebook Saturday night, and contains content that may be unsuitable for some viewers.

In it, a group of young men inside a Baltimore home are arguing with a lieutenant, who is standing at the door with one hand inside the door jamb.

The men inside the home can be heard in the video telling the officer at the door that the home is their residence and denying him access to come inside.

According to a statement released Monday afternoon, the lieutenant was in the 1800 block of Barclay Street, patrolling the area in response to community complaints about a particular home, when he saw a person attempting to enter one of the houses through the back.

"He approached the individual to investigate further and other individuals came outside of the front of the house and began to record," according to the statement.

"During the lieutenant's attempt to gather more information and confirm that the individual had legal access to the residence, he called for additional officers to respond to the scene."

In the video, when the second officer arrives on the scene, he walks up to the door and pulls one of the men outside, wrestling him to the ground.

When WJZ contacted Baltimore Police Monday afternoon, a spokesman for the department confirmed that the young man was an adult, although his exact age could not be confirmed. Police also could not confirm if the home was his residence or not.

The man who was pulled out of the door, and ultimately arrested for disorderly conduct, was not the person who the lieutenant saw at the back of the house originally, according to the statement.

Baltimore Police have since asked the State's Attorney's Office to drop the charges against him.

Below is the full Baltimore Police Department statement on the incident, released Monday afternoon:

"On Saturday, April 16, 2016 at approximately 7:15 p.m., a Baltimore police lieutenant was in the area of the 1800 block of Barclay Street. The lieutenant was patrolling the area in response to community complaints about a home in the area. It had been reported that people would frequent the house throughout the day and night.

The lieutenant observed a person attempting to get into the rear of the home. He approached the individual to investigate further and other individuals came outside of the front of the house and began to record. During the lieutenant's attempt to gather more information and confirm that the individual had legal access to the residence, he called for additional officers to respond to the scene.

An officer arrived and made an arrest of one individual, who was not the individual the officer originally saw. That person was arrested for disorderly conduct. The individual was charged on a criminal citation.

The Police Department executive team met to discuss this issue and the circumstances surrounding the arrest. Our assessment is that criminal charges were not appropriate in this situation and we contacted the State's Attorney's Office to request that charges be dropped.

We currently are investigating the actions of the police officer and police lieutenant internally."