The Time Baltimore’s Police Commissioner Put a Gun to a Suspect’s Head
Mother Jones
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Baltimore police chief Anthony Batts was riding along with a patrol last May when his officers spotted an object in the shape of a handgun bulging out of the pocket of a man they’d stopped. As recounted later by Baltimore’s CBS affiliate, the man struggled with the officers, and pulled his gun. In response, Batts drew his service weapon and put it to the suspect’s head. When the suspect attempted to move Batts’ firearm out of the way, the city’s highest-ranking law enforcement officer punched him in the face—and secured the illegal firearm in the process. A triumphant police department quickly took to Twitter to boast of its boss’ exploits:
#ASaferBaltimore #BPDPC Batts makes an arrest and takes another illegal gun off the streets. #LeadingFromTheFront pic.twitter.com/DoGxQjZx5x
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice)
The move was typical of Batts, a hands-on chief with a history of leading troubled police departments who now finds himself at the center of the unrest ignited by the death of Freddie Gray in his department’s custody. Batts took over the Baltimore Police Department in 2012 shortly after the death of Anthony Anderson at the hands of arresting officers, and set about attempting to rehab his department’s image while establishing his own cred as an outsider in a new city. He came up through the ranks of the Long Beach, California, police department, and arrived in Maryland fresh off a tumultuous four-year stint as Oakland’s police chief, where he took over a department that had been subjected to federal monitoring as part of a 2003 court settlement over rampant abuses. Batts was tasked with curbing the Oakland Police Department’s excesses. The results were mixed.
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The Time Baltimore’s Police Commissioner Put a Gun to a Suspect’s Head
