Police Chief Hylton Professes Outrage

On March 3^rd of this year, the University of Maryland Men's basketball team defeated national champion, Duke, 79-72 at College Park, Maryland. It should be kept in mind that Duke is to Maryland in basketball as Michigan is to Ohio State in football: a very intense rivalry.

In fact, the last time Ohio State won the NCAA football championship, the campus's reaction was a collective, "Oh, that's nice." On the other hand, when the Buckeyes defeated a powerful Michigan team on the road to that title, the students almost burned Columbus to the ground.

The Maryland students' celebration of their victory was not nearly that raucous, but it was plenty spirited-enough so that the Prince George's County police needed to arrive in considerable numbers to restore order. And, as to their belonging on the scene, there was and is no dispute. Many Maryland students were indeed too unruly for their behavior to be written off to exuberance. It is safe to say that most of the 28 who were arrested got what they deserved.

That said, there was one arrest in particular that stunk worse than the droppings of the mounted cops' transportation. A 21-year-old student named Jack McKenna was, admittedly, guilty of dancing around, like a fool, but on the sidewalk, without coming in contact with any living thing. A video exists, clearly showing what happened, including the police beating that followed.

To be sure, there have been consequences. Two of the police on the scene have been suspended, while others are being investigated. On top of that, the F.B.I. has become involved to examine the situation for civil-rights violations. Even though McKenna is white, he still does have civil rights, like the rest of us.

Both Chief Roberto Hylton and department spokesman, Maj. Andy Ellis have been quick to express their opinion that this was an "isolated incident," not in keeping with the normal conduct of the PGPD. Well, perhaps it was, but, then the PGPD just recently got our from under an intensive five-year federal monitoring of their methods and conduct, which, prior to that, were found to have been especially brutal. Possibly that had something to do with the county going from a white-majority to a black-majority suburb (of Washington).

Even giving Hylton and Ellis the benefit of the doubt, there is a far more important issue that has not been given much play in the news, and it is a pervasive problem that goes far beyond Prince George's County. The one named suspended officer was Sean McAleavey, who, for whatever part he may have taken in McKenna's beating, then filed a false arrest report, charging the student with physical violence toward both officers and horses, thereby necessitating the harsh beating the police "had to" administer to him.

It is bad enough that McKenna got a concussion and other lesser, but painful, injuries. He will recover from them eventually. The false arrest, if not discovered, could have damaged his future prospects forever.

To be sure, the false arrest report was a major contributing factor in McAleavey's suspension, and the PGPD quickly dropped all charges against the student. What remains to be seen is how forcefully Chief Hylton, and possibly other county officials, plan to deal with the false arrest. Clearly, this is the time and the place for the Chief to send a message, not only down the line, but across the nation, that false arrests of this nature will not be tolerated. A just outcome would be suspensions for the baton-wielders, but termination with prejudice for the officer who filed the false report. I hold the horses blameless, though.

This is not a new problem in our society, by any means. Back in the 1980s, I had the misfortune to be stuck on a grand jury. Most of the other jurors resented me as a soft-on-crime liberal, because I only voted to indict about 96% of the time, while, many of the others firmly believed that, if the police say the person did it, then he's guilty.

In one case, a man was up for assaulting a police officer, in the course of being detained for some other crime. I was willing to find "probable cause" for the underlying crime, but when I asked the testifying officer (Grand jurors are allowed to question witnesses.) if the suspect sustained any injuries or had been hospitalized, the witness refused to answer, supported by most of the jurors angrily telling me to shut up. Needless to say, I refused to vote for the assault charge, thereby making me yet even more despicable within that room.

Charges of "resisting arrest" or "assaulting an officer" to justify beating the stuffing out of a suspect are the oldest and among the dirtiest tricks in the police repertoire. It is long past time to hold those in authority accountable for their out-of-court perjury.

Sources

Gazette.Net

WashingtonPost.com

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