Watch CBS News

Police: Officer Seen In Viral Video Did Not Violate Any Departmental Rules

BALTIMORE CO., Md. (WJZ) -- Cell phone video of a heated exchange between a Baltimore County officer and a young man has gone viral.

Police stopped the man in a Baltimore County Kohl's store.

In the video, the man stopped by police claims the officer is harassing him.

The Baltimore County Police Department says they reviewed the incident, and no rules were broken.

The video shows a Baltimore County officer stop an accused shoplifter.

The police department says the officer stopped him in order to verify if the 24-year-old was a wanted man who had a warrant for his arrest.

"He did try to go up to him, identify him, and try to verify that the warrant was in fact existent or not," Baltimore County PD Cpl. Shawn Vinson said.

The 24-year-old did not have a warrant out for his arrest.

Vinson says the heated exchanged at the Kohl's store didn't start there, but began in the J.C. Penney at White Marsh Mall back in September 2017.

That's when security flagged the man in the video, identified as John Holt Jr. for alleged theft.

"They observed him stealing a pair of tennis shoes and two shirts from the store," Vinson said.

The officer in the video taken earlier this month was also the arresting officer in that shoplifting case last fall.

Baltimore County police say it's unclear if Holt showed up for his court date, and he did briefly have a warrant for his arrest.

So when the officer recognized Holt, he stopped him to check.

But in the three minute recording, Holt describes the interaction as "harassment."

"The [police] department reviewed the incident, reviewed the body camera footage that was related to it, and at this point, we do not see any violations of any departmental rules or regulations," Vinson said.

Police say at the time of the video, Holt wasn't in custody. He didn't have to give the officer any information or identify himself.

Viewers have watched and shared the video from Holt's Facebook page thousands of times.

Follow @WJZ on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.