Police officers in Prince George’s County, Maryland, are infamous for abusing their power when apprehending subjects.
The latest scandal to dog the department involves a pistol-whipping and shooting incident that took place last February between Cpl. Donald Taylor and then-19-year-old Ryan Dorm outside a convenience store. Although Taylor said in an initial report that his gun discharged because Dorm went for his gun, a surveillance video tells a completely different story.
Officer Taylor and his partners surveilled Dorm and others entering the store and profiled the group as potential robbers. Dorm, who has had brushes with the law in the past, did not commit a crime and told authorities he walked away to avoid any issues.
Two blocks away, Taylor confronted Dorm and smacked the teen with his firearm causing it to discharge. There is no sign of a struggle on the video and it is obvious Taylor was the aggressor in the confrontation. Dorm was arrested and served four months in jail for a crime he didn’t commit.
PG County police officials eventually discovered that Officer Taylor lied about what took place and charged him accordingly, but kept the details mostly in-house. All charges against Dorm were dropped, but his attorney is angered by the racial profiling that led to the unfortunate exchange. “He [Officer Taylor] played on the community’s stereotypes that this young, Black person was a menace,” said attorney Jim Bell to local ABC news station WJLA. “Imagine if that was your son or your daughter.”
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Maryland Cop In Hot Water After Videotaped Pistol-Whipping Goes Public was originally published on newsone.com