BALTIMORE _ A Baltimore police officer accused of punching a man in an incident caught on video was released by a judge until his trial in October.
During a hearing Wednesday in Baltimore, Arthur Williams pleaded not guilty to charges of first- and second-degree assault and misconduct in office. A grand jury had indicted him Tuesday and he turned himself in later that evening. He has resigned from the department.
Cellphone video of the incident has circulated widely online. The video shows Williams confronting a man on street. The man shouts in Williams' face and smacks the officer's hand off his chest. Then the cop begins throwing punches with both fists.
"I got all that. I got all that. Don't worry about it," a person filming says.
The 39-second cellphone video doesn't show the full story of their encounter, said Thomas Maronick Jr., the officer's attorney.
"One video is not the totality of the circumstances," Maronick told The Baltimore Sun, "and one video that is being portrayed by the media in a particular way is not who he is as a person."
Baltimore defense attorney Warren Brown said his client, Dashawn McGrier, 26, suffered a fractured jaw and ribs, swelling around his eye and ringing in his ears from Williams' punches. Brown said he was pursuing restitution payments for McGrier and he hoped to avoid a lawsuit.
Brown said McGrier, a warehouse worker at Dietz & Watson, had been taunted and harassed by the officer for months.
Williams served in the military and won praise as a stellar recruit when he graduated from the academy, his attorney said.
"He is a family man, (a father) of a young child. He is somebody who is very active in the community," Maronick said. "What's being alleged against him is such a polar opposite of who he is."
Baltimore police officer who was shown on video beating man is charged with assault and turns himself in
Interim police Commissioner Gary Tuggle and Mayor Catherine Pugh have described the video as disturbing. Tuggle singled out the officer's "repeated head strikes."
The interim commissioner had suspended Williams before the officer resigned. A second officer at the scene has not been identified. He was placed on administrative duties while police investigate the incident. Prosecutors say they will not charge the second officer with a crime.
Williams was disappointed by the charges against him, his attorney said.
"(He) looks forward to his day in court, and his chance to tell his side of the story," Maronick said.
Maronick said he could not comment on any existing relationship or familiarity between Williams and McGrier. But Saturday was not the first altercation between the two men.
Brown said their feud began months ago when McGrier encouraged children who he said were harassed by Williams to alert their parents to the officer's behavior.
In June, Williams tried to cite a woman for smoking marijuana when McGrier grabbed her hand-rolled cigar and tried to run away, Williams wrote in charging documents.
Williams wrote that McGrier "took a fighting stance" and the men ended up tussling on the ground. Williams said McGrier tried to hit him and incite the crowd to attack him.
"Mr. McGrier stated several times that he would kill this officer once he was released from prison," Williams wrote.
Brown said Williams' account of the incident was "totally inaccurate" and said he expected McGrier to be cleared of the June charges, which include assaulting an officer and resisting arrest.
Maronick also criticized the police union, and its president, Lt. Gene Ryan, specifically, for how they handled Williams' suspension and subsequent arrest.
Ryan told The Baltimore Sun that he believed there might be more to the story, but that he believed Tuggle took "the appropriate action" by suspending Williams, and that the video showed "inexcusable behavior" that the department "can't tolerate" from officers. He also said that the incident was "something we don't need right now. We don't need another black eye."
"The police union and its leadership is supposed to be representing its members. They're supposed to be talking about their due process rights," Maronick said. "It's astounding to see a quote about 'another black eye,' which is what Gene Ryan started talking about after this incident rather than about the rights my client retains, rather than his innocence until proven guilty, rather than about his due process rights."
Maronick said he would have more to say at a later time about the circumstances surrounding Williams' resignation from the force after the incident occurred.
Maronick said what the public knows of this case is "simply what the media is reporting, and that's why we have trials and that's why defendants have a presumption of innocence." He said "the evidence that is presented in court, I think, will be a fair representation of the totality of circumstances."
City leaders have expressed concern that the incident with further strain the relationship between the police and public. Some people had called for protests in the streets after the video spread online, Brown said. The attorney said he had been ready to appear publicly to calm any tensions.
The encounter comes as the latest blemish for a police department as it undergoes sweeping reforms after a federal investigation found widespread unconstitutional and discriminatory practices.
