The female Baltimore police officer caught on camera saying “This isn’t my district” after being told about a man dropping a gun near Preston Gardens Park has “separated” from the department, Acting Commissioner Gary Tuggle said today.
The circumstances of the separation are unclear. When asked if the officer had been fired or left voluntarily, Tuggle repeated, “She’s been separated from the agency.”
Baltimore Fishbowl asked a similar follow-up question over email and was told by chief spokesman T.J. Smith, “She no longer works for the agency.” It occurred recently, he said.
A representative with FOP Lodge 3, the local police union, said, “We haven’t receive any official information.”
Police shared the video, recorded July 6 at about 2:30 a.m. on a dashboard camera used by two firefighters, at a press conference earlier this month. The footage showed a man crossing St. Paul Street, and the firefighters said they saw what appeared to be a gun in his waistband. Seconds later, they said the man threw the firearm in some bushes.
Shortly after, the man reappeared in an apparent attempt to recover the gun. The firefighters called 911 to report what they saw and drove over to N. Calvert Street, where they saw an officer.
“Hey, can you help me out?” one of the men in the car asked. “There’s a guy who just dumped a gun. I just called it in twice, but it took them forever to respond. Right there at St. Paul and Lexington.”
The officer, who is never seen on camera, responded, “Sir, right now, I’m going back to the station. You called it in?”
The firefighter confirmed he did.
“This isn’t my district,” the officer said.
Tuggle denounced the video as “totally unacceptable,” and said the officer should have called for backup and investigated what the firefighters witnessed.
“We’ve got a responsibility, no matter where you are,” he said. “If you wear this uniform and this badge, it says Baltimore City, and you’ve got the responsibility to serve any place in the city.”
No arrests were made, but police said officers found the gun after canvassing the area in the daylight.
