Baltimore’s Police Chief:
If You’re Not Killed or Disabled, Then Don’t Complain

Dec 17, 2001

Three Baltimore cops were recently charged with assaulting a 26-year-old black man.

On October 2, they had accosted Dante Brown as he was crossing the street, grabbed him by the arm, put him in a choke hold, pinched his nostrils shut and tried to force his mouth open. They yelled, “Spit it out!” and “You’re about to be DOA (Dead On Arrival).” They flipped Brown onto his stomach and he passed out. They then kicked him several times “to revive him.”

After all of this, what did they have? Nothing–not a single stick of evidence against Brown–not even a hint. They didn’t even attempt to fabricate a charge–just told him to leave and hoped he’d forget the beating.

But he didn’t. He went to his grandmother’s house who got him to the hospital.

Ultimately, the case landed in the lap of the state’s attorney who brought the case to a grand jury which indicted the three cops.

Now the cops who assaulted Brown pretend that he had drugs and was trying to swallow them. BUT they didn’t charge him with anything at the time.

When Baltimore’s Police Chief was asked about the charges against his officers, he said he was “not happy it came to an indictment. I understand there were no lasting injuries.”

In other words, the cops were just carrying on as usual–beating someone who had done nothing, expecting to get away with it because they hadn’t permanently maimed or killed Brown.

But Dante Brown, apparently, was not ready to let them slide.