As a detective with the Baltimore City Police Department, Joe Crystal witnessed a few of his fellow officers beating up a handcuffed suspect. That night, he called his parents and told him what he’d seen. They reminded him of his commitment to integrity; the next day, he reported his colleagues. That’s when his trouble really started.
As we reported back in September, Crystal says he was subject to verbal harassment from his fellow officers, including the top brass. They called him a rat and a snitch; some refused to ride with him. Twice, he called for backup–but no one showed up. The department even opened an investigation into Crystal–but not into the officers he accused of harassing him. (He was in trouble for using an official vehicle to give his wife a ride home.)
This is all coming up again because Crystal–now a police officer in Florida–just granted an extensive interview to the New York Daily News. In it, he details the harassment he received– the reason behind his recent decision to fire a federal lawsuit against the BPD, for which he’s seeking $2.5 million in damages. Read the whole thing here.
