A Baltimore City security camera captured surveillance video of a June 15 arrest outside of the Eric 500 liquor store on East North Avenue. The silent footage shows a man, Kollin Truss, arguing with an officer, Vincent E. Cosom, on his way out of the store. Truss is accompanied by a woman, his girlfriend Stephanie Coleman, who appears to urge him to cross the street and walk away, which the two do. Truss and two other officers follow the pair across the street. And, seemingly out of nowhere, Cosom begins punching Truss several times in the face and body while Truss is restrained by another one of the officers. The beating doesn’t stop until Coleman pushes Cosom away and stands in front of Truss.
Initially, Truss — who cannot be seen to throw a single punch in the video — was charged with assaulting Cosom and Coleman. (Cosom reported that Truss “pushed the female with open hands three times.”) Those charges have since been dropped, and Truss has filed a $5 million lawsuit against Cosom, alleging assault, battery, and false arrest, among other charges, according to the Baltimore Sun.
According to Cosom’s account of the arrest, Truss faced the officer with a fighting stance and clenched fist, which precipitated “a physical altercation due to me being in fear of my safety, and I received a punch to the body.”
Here’s the surveillance footage:
