Maryland:
“We Shoot People”

Mar 30, 2015

Last week a PG County cop was indicted on charges that included first-degree assault and misconduct in office.

Officer Jenchesky Santiago was on patrol in a Bowie, Maryland neighborhood last May when he told two men they were parked illegally outside a home. They were not. The driver explained he was dropping off his cousin. Santiago ordered the man who had been walking toward his house to return to the car. When the man didn’t return, Santiago blocked him from entering his home, pulled his gun and held it against the man’s head.

Then Santiago proclaimed to the men: “We’re PGPD. We shoot people.”

Many people in PG County felt like the cop was speaking the truth! One person even suggested changing the police department motto, from “Protect and Serve” to “We Shoot People.”

PG County’s police chief Mark Magaw said in a statement, “These actions are not indicative of the high standards we expect from our officers.”

But this is not an isolated incident and PG County cops have a decades-old reputation for being aggressive and dangerous.

In July of 1999, the U.S. Justice Department complained about excessive use of force by the PGPD canine unit.

In 2005, at least three PG cops seriously beat a University of Maryland student during what they called a “riot” after Maryland beat rival team Duke.

In February of 2012, corporal Donald Taylor beat Ryan Dorn so hard with the butt of his gun that the weapon fired. He was also indicted for assault and misconduct in office, but later found “not guilty” and acquitted of all charges.

Also in 2012, Corporal Ricky Adey was indicted for assaulting a teenage boy during an arrest. Adey was also acquitted.

It seems like it’s business as usual for the Prince Georges county Police Department.

Time for that business to be shut down!