Officer seen on assault video charged with assault, perjury

[MrScorpio]

By Justin Fenton,
The Baltimore Sun

A Baltimore police officer who was caught on video beating a suspect — but remained on the job for three months until the video was publicly revealed — was criminally charged with assault and perjury, city prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Officer Vincent E. Cosom Jr., a seven-year veteran of the force, is shown on city surveillance camera footage launching what appears to be an unprovoked attack on Kollin Truss at a bus stop on East North Avenue.

A surveillance camera operator flagged the footage on the night in June that it occurred, and prosecutors and internal affairs detectives were aware of it, but Cosom was not suspended until Truss' attorneys made the video public last month. Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said he had not been aware of the incident until then, and suspended Cosom on Sept. 16.

In addition to second-degree assault, Cosom was charged with perjury after writing in a statement of probable cause that Truss had assaulted him. All charges against Truss were dropped after prosecutors saw the video evidence.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-ci-officer-beating-video-charges-20141029-story.html

The police should be under video surveillance at all times while on duty.

[hobbit709]

1. They cover for their own until it becomes public.

even then they will still lie and try to cover.

[CanonRay]

2. I wonder if the other cop in the video

the one holding Truss' arm back, also lied. He probably would have had to give a statement.

[zonkers]

22. Two on one. And cop #2 is so casual about it.

[Mariana]

39. That's how it goes.

That's why I honestly don't believe the assertions that it's "just a few bad apples". Almost every time we see vid of a cop beating on someone, and there are other cops on the scene, none of them do anything to help the victims, and they usually actively participate in the abuse. If it really were "a few bad apples" we'd see "good cops" jumping in to stop the "bad cops" all the time. But, we don't see that.

[CanonRay]

48. You know, that is a good observation

That should tell you it is endemic in this police force.

[tblue37]

25. This is from the linked article:

On Wednesday, Bates said he was concerned that two other officers, who he contends failed to intervene, were not charged. Those officers have not been identified by the Police Department.

"For the state not to charge the other two officers really allows Kollin Truss to be victimized again," Bates said. "The state has to give a message to police that if there's one bad apple in the group and the group goes along with it, everybody in the group should be held responsible."

Edited to add this (from the same article):

Over the past four years, the city has paid $5.7 million in court judgments and settlements in more than 100 civil suits alleging police brutality and other misconduct. Nearly all of the people involved in incidents leading to those lawsuits were cleared of criminal charges <emphasis added>.

[noiretextatique]

42. Over the past four years, the city has paid $5.7 million in court judgments and settlements

this may be a way to awaken people who otherwise support these excesses. police abuse costs money.

[Logical]

3. I predict he "retires" before being fired! nt

[lpbk2713]

4. You can BS some of the people all of the time,

and you can BS all of the people some of the time.
But when they have you on video ... you're screwn.

[scarystuffyo]

5. This video must be a fake

If it was real No way he still would have been on the job..
The other honest police officers there would have arrested him for assault


I call fake

[MrScorpio]

6. I think that you're missing the sarcasm smilie. nt

[scarystuffyo]

8. Wait just a minute!

Am I being lead to believe that when the police see their other fellow officers commit a crime
they might cover up for the officer?

Now you're really reaching

[MrScorpio]

13. I'm just saying that the sarcasm smilie is for the benefit of our lesser experienced members

We have to think of them.

[noiretextatique]

43. um...yeah. it happens all the time

police tend to back each other up, even when they commit crimes. what planet do you live on?

[FarPoint]

32. Do you believe that an actors group made this video?

Do you believe the news article was written by an amateur group of literature students conducting a theatrical drama project?

[liberalhistorian]

7. I wonder when the badge sniffers

here will start to show up and twist themselves into pretzels to defend this bullshit.

[heaven05]

10. they won't

he's a black police officer committing a crime.....

[noiretextatique]

44. there is one, so far

that claims he cannot believe other officers would not refuse to report the crimes of another officer.

[liberalhistorian]

46. I'm pretty sure

that that one was sarcasm, a take off of all of the badge-sniffing posts where such posters say things like "most cops are honest and will not protect the bad ones", etc.

[MannyGoldstein]

9. Prison for all three cops.

And fire everyone in the department who covered this up.

The message must be clear. Justice must be served.

[scarystuffyo]

11. Yup

[joshcryer]

28. Assault for the one cop, complicity in a crime and fraud for the rest.

Or whatever it's called. Oh and internal affairs needs to be gutted, whole chain of command needs to be fired, or jailed if they can prove the paper trail (but I suspect they covered their tracks, "tapes got lost" type of nonsense).

[Iggo]

12. "The police should be under video surveillance at all times while on duty."

You got that right.

[freedom fighter jh]

15. +1 nt

[tblue37]

14. Has there been *any* explanation of why that cop went after the guy like that?

Did the cop think he had some particular grievance against him? Or was it just an opportunity for a roided up rage freak to work off some excess energy because he figured he could always get away with beating up someone who was already in custody?

We see so much unprovoked police brutality, but this guy coming from out of nowhere and attacking like that is even more extreme than usual without some sort of reason--I mean something the *cop* considered a reason, not something a normal, decent human being would consider justification for attacking someone.

I wonder whether the prisoner might have said something the cop didn't like. We have seen cops go nuts over anything they interpret as insufficiently submissive language, like the cop who got ugly with the young man on a bike who said."Have a nice day," and "God bless you" to a cop in a tone the cop didn't like.

[MrScorpio]

16. We need to come to the realization that a lot of cops are just plain violent assholes...

Who assault people at the drop of a hat. Many of them do it simply because they think that they can get away with it.

[liberalhistorian]

17. He wasn't under

arrest, he wasn't a prisoner. Not sure where you're getting that from.

[tblue37]

21. I read too fast--he was a "suspect." But the way he is sort of surrounded by cops made me

assume they had him in custody.

Whether he was a prisoner or not, there is no way at all that the cop's assault on him can be justified--even if the man said something the cop didn't like, or in a tone the cop didn't like. I was just wondering whether the cop just jumped him completely out of the blue with nothing said or done at all, or whether the guy had made a remark, perhaps even one under his breath, that the cop thought was a reason for attacking him. Or whether maybe the cop had some sort of "history" with the man.

Has anyone read anything that explains what might have been going on in the cop's mind? I think this matters. Cops are out of control, and they take any look, gesture, or comment as an excuse to brutalize citizens. But if they are just jumping people now, without even the slightest possible reason, then things are getting even scarier than they already were.

[joshcryer]

30. In theory the witnesses got internal affairs involved.

At that point the video was either kept covered up or "lost" or whatever and the investigation went as usual: cop gets suspension until the investigation is figured out. I think it's fair for that to happen (such as in false accusation cases or cases where the evidence is unclear). But this is a clear open and shut case, which is why he was charged immediately upon the video being made public.

Being made public is key here.

Who knows what set the cop off, it seems the victim's lady friend is holding his arm, perhaps to make him not say anything to the cop, and he said something to get the cop to react. But no one should be treated that way.

[tblue37]

34. See my post #33 below. I think I know why the cop jumped him. nt

[tblue37]

24. BTW, When I followed the link, this was in the "summary" line before the story itself:

Last edited Sun Nov 2, 2014, 12:42 PM - Edit history (1)

A Baltimore Police officer caught on video striking a man he arrested has been criminally charged.

On Edit: He became a "prisoner" because he was arrested and charged with assault--by the cop who assaulted him. I assume that is why the summary line at the top of the article referred to him as a prisoner.

[tblue37]

33. I finally read the whole article--he wasn't even a "suspect" at the time!

Apparently the cop had been hassling the man and his girlfriend, just because he could (and because they are black, as well, I 'm sure). Apparently for no reason the cop had decided to tell them to leave the area, but they didn't, so when Truss went into and then came back out of a nearby liquor store, the cop jumped him--I assume for not saying, "Yes, sir! Whatever you say sir!" in a suitably submissive voice after being told to leave the area:

The Cosom incident occurred June 15, when Truss and his girlfriend, Stephanie Coleman, were on East North and Greenmount avenues. Cosom wrote in a police report that he ordered Truss to leave the area but Truss refused and headed into a liquor store <emphasis added>.

Truss exited the store and met again with Cosom. The video shows Coleman trying to get between the two men. Coleman said in an interview last month that she was worried things would get out of control and was trying to intervene.

"I knew once he was harassing us, it was going to end in a big incident," Coleman said, adding that she was scared of Cosom <emphasis added>.

Cosom wrote that Truss dropped into a fighting stance and made threats. The video shows Cosom dart around a group of bystanders to get to Truss. Cosom lands a series of blows, including several delivered while another officer restrains Truss against the side of a bus shelter.

It looks as though the cop just singled the couple out for random harassment of the "I can hassle you and restrict your right to be anywhere I want to prevent you from being just because you're black" variety, and then worked himself into a rage while Truss was in the store because Truss had disobeyed him. By the time Truss came out of the store, the cop was probably beyond furious because he had been fuming about it the whole time Truss was in there.

[thesquanderer]

20. He was not a prisoner in custody

This happened out at a public bus stop.

[99th_Monkey]

37. The aggressive cop saw a PAID VACATION in his future

and I bet he's still getting one, even if part of it is behind bars for a few days,
but more likely a "not guilty" or probation at most.

[avebury]

18. The Prosecutors and Internal Affairs Detectives should be

charged with accessories after the fact for trying to cover for Cosom. It is sad that they only way the public can be protected from police is when video evidence of misdeeds is made public. You cannot rely upon the police to protect and serve only to conduct mayhem and brutalize. They seem to think that protect and serve means to protect and serve themselves.

[tblue37]

23. And even with clear video evidence, the cop gets away with it almost every time--and in the rare

cases when the police admit that maybe something untoward occurred, the cop's "punishment" is usually nothing more than a paid vacation and a gentle tap on the wrist, not even a slap.

[joshcryer]

27. Internal affairs needs a gutting.

That's for damn sure.

[L0oniX]

19. Amazing that Truss did not fight back.

[Mariana]

40. He'd probably be dead now, if he had tried to fight back. nt.

[joshcryer]

26. Anthony Batts needs to resign.

It's his damn job to know about stuff like this. If there was a coverup and it didn't make it up the ladder in internal affairs then a lot of people need to go to jail, just not the criminal officers.

[etherealtruth]

29. I am sickened and disgusted.... but not surprised

They all need to be charged (all officers on the scene) and anyone that helped cover this up all the way up the chain.

I, of course, do not believe this will happen ...but it is what would be right and just

[KingCharlemagne]

31. Where are the copologists now? I can almost hear them:

"Truss was charging Officer Cossom."

Because, see, eyewitness testimony doesn't count when the eyewitnesses are black and the police officer is white.

[tblue37]

35. Is the cop white? I think maybe the cop is black, too. Someone above said he was, so I looked at the

video more carefully. I can't be sure, but I think maybe the other poster is right about that. But it doesn't matter what race the cop is--he is still cop "blue."

[KingCharlemagne]

41. The police administer two systems of justice in this country; one is for white middle-

and upper-class citizens, the other for lower-class citizens and people of color.

I was alluding to the Michael Brown case, where all the black eyewitnesses who have come forward publicly to agree that MB was not charging Officer Wilson are overridden by the testimony of a single white cop that MB was charging him. Apologize if I wasn't clear enough.

In this case, the copologists would have Mr. Truss 'charging' this cop, irrespective of the cop's race.

[noiretextatique]

45. nail...meet head

the truth you speak is what many people refuse to acknowledge. not our friend above, but too many other white americans, in particular, don't accept this as truth. of course, black people are always guilty of something, and therefore derserve what they get. that's the justice we have for poor people and people of color.

[Bartlet]

36. Huh so once again

cops cover for bad cops until the evidence is made public because that's what cops do.

[Ino]

38. The other two cops...

the one who ran over and grabbed Truss so Cop Cosom could pound on him more effectively, and the one who just stood there not intervening at all...

they are the so-called "good cops."

"Good cops" don't beat people up for no reason, but they don't stop it or report either.

[Brigid]

47. The beating will continue . . .

Until cops are criminally convicted and jailed, and have to pay the civil judgments themselves when they pull this crap.