BPD Release CitiWatch, Body Camera Video Of Inner Harbor Juvenile Incident
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Baltimore City Police gave a closer look at what transpired in the downtown Inner Harbor area on Saturday night, as large groups of young people converged on the area.
Five minutes of compiled and edited CitiWatch and body camera footage gave an idea of some of the problems downtown that night at around 6 p.m. Some young people were captured picking fights with innocent bystanders, even running on top of cars.
"Services 21, they look like they are going after the guy with the purple jacket on," One officer said in the video.
Baltimore City Police said they were ready for a gathering of 300 to 500 young people. The video shows officers running from scene to scene trying to control the situation.
Some of the video also appears to show teens indiscriminately attacking people. At one point, a person watches, waits and then kicks a man in the face.
He stuck around and shook someone's hand.
At another point one angle of the video near the Renaissance Harbor Place Hotel showed a wider scope, young people in the middle of the street were seen as a limo with a trail of cars behind, even a police car tried to get through.
More body camera video showed the perspective of officers as they ran toward the chaos, in one part it shows someone being kicked as a crowd stands over him.
At East Pratt and Light Streets, a group could be seen rapidly turning around then sprinting in the opposite direction, and in the rush to get out some started swinging at each other.
"At first, I thought someone was shooting or something was happening, because there was such a rush of people coming through," a witness said.
By the end of the night, six people were arrested. Two were charged with robbery and the other four were charged with fighting with each other.
City Councilman Eric Costello said a majority of the teens were obeying the rules.
"By large most of those kids were just enjoying the weekend and some nice weather but we did have a small group of kids who were acting inappropriately running on the roofs of cars so that's very disappointing that type of behavior is unacceptable," He said.
Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott had called for the police department to release body camera footage after six people were arrested in the Inner Harbor when reports scattered social media Saturday night that large groups of juveniles were seen running around and fighting in the area downtown.
"We must hold those who participate in illegal activity responsible, but everyone who cares about Baltimore must also understand that most of the young people who visit the Harbor are not there to engage in illegal activity. We have to recognize that we must provide opportunities for young people to enjoy themselves safely while simultaneously enforcing the law," Scott said in the statement.
Following the incident, the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police tweeted that officers should, "Protect each other and don't fall into the trap that they are only kids. Some are criminals! Keep the current policies and consent decree in mind..."
This comment drew criticism from the ACLU of Maryland, they responded in part saying, "comments like this do nothing to repair that trust,"
This story will be updated.
