The Associated Press
Upper Marlboro, Md. (AP) -- A Prince George’s County police officer caught on videotape striking a handcuffed suspect was indicted Tuesday for assault and making a false entry on a public record.
The charges against Officer Brian K. Addis stem from the Oct. 5 arrest of Vernon Bullock, who was apprehended in a carjacked vehicle after a police chase in the Beltsville area.
The county police force faces an ongoing probe by the Justice Department, which is looking for a possible pattern of misconduct within the force.
During a routine investigation in late December, Assistant State’s Attorney Luis Gomez and Detective Greg Domagauer saw the arrest on a videotape, which was made from a camera mounted on the cruiser Addis was driving. The tape was given to the police department’s Bureau of Professional Responsibility, and Addis was suspended with pay soon after, prosecutors said.
The tape showed the officer repeatedly swinging a metal baton at a carjacking suspect and kneeing the man in the groin after he was placed in handcuffs, State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey said Tuesday.
``We certainly agreed with the grand jury’s decision to indict here,” Ivey said after the indictment was announced. “I thought it was completely appropriate given the evidence and the law in the case.’'
Ivey ordered the grand jury investigation.
The officer’s initial court appearance was scheduled for April.
Addis faces up to 10 years in prison on the misdemeanor assault charge and three years in prison on the false entry on a public record charge.
Bullock pleaded guilty to armed carjacking and unlawful use of a handgun in February. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with all but seven years suspended.
A police affidavit on the arrest said he allegedly stole a minivan at gunpoint in Beltsville, leading police on a 10-minute chase. The chase ended about 11 a.m. when the van tried to exit the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and crashed. Addis’s cruiser camera shows Bullock stepping out of the minivan, apparently dazed and stumbling, The Washington Post reported earlier this year.
Bullock told the newspaper he did not try to run or fight.
“I lied down on the ground. (The officer) started kicking me...After that, I blacked out,” Bullock told the newspaper.