Feb 12, 2008
Video: Baltimore cop suspended over altercation with teen
Sometimes you’re looking in vain for a blog post to kick off the day, and sometimes one just falls into your lap.
The latter was the case this morning, after this story came down the wire, about a veteran Baltimore cop who was suspended after a YouTube video of his encounter with a 14 year-old skateboarder at the Inner Harbor made the rounds.
In the video, it appears that the officer is ordering a group of teens to stop skateboarding (which is banned at the Inner Harbor). When the 14 year-old resists, the officer puts him in a headlock and berates him for being disrespectful.
At one point, the officer asks the teen: “Are you from the County or something?” He then proceeds with this zinger: “Obviously, your parents don’t put a foot in your butt quite enough, because you don’t understand the meaning of respect.”
WJZ-TV even got an interview with the teen.
Watch the video below and let us know if you think the cop was out of line or not.
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
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Whoever the anonymous person is below me that posted a comment is retarded. Who cares if there might have been something else that happened to this cop during the day that made him act like this, it’s no excuse for what he did to that kid. His actions were totally uncalled for, the kid was very quiet and polite towards the cop EVEN after the cop manhandled him and threw him to the ground. This cop needs to be fired for the embarrassment of the “department” he works for, and needs to consult an anger-management counselor before he kills somebody next time. It makes me sick and want to give this cop what he deserves whenever i watch this video, it’s sickening
Don’t see any editing here. The cop here is just a real knob.
I really don’t know why kids or anyone else doesn’t respect him. Especially since he’s tubby, wears those cool shorts, neon shirt, and super sweet golf cart.
Lastly, that cop is going to get himself killed talking to people like that. He should be more careful.
KC
ps, I love his line, “A dude is somebody who works on a ranch!” LOL! Pure comedy!
Okay first of all… why does he get all worked up when he gets called dude? I mean… that guy’s really gotta take a chill pill… I hate cops and this really made me mad… HELL YEA he went outta line!
DUDE!
This is horrible children are beautiful creatures and should never be yelled at or hurt in any way he should be allowed to skate wherever he wants and get what ever he wants its sad to know this sort of thing is still happening
I taught middle and high school in some seriously out of control schools for several years and I took a hundred times worse abuse than this cop. He was waaaaaay out of line. If he thinks the kids did something illegal he could’ve checked their ID’s and issued summonses. Instead, he’s forcing himself to get angry.
Yelling “you disrespected me, this badge, and my department, so your parents didn’t put their foot in your but enough” is no good. He’s threatening them, and that’s child abuse.
I feel that I speak with some authority, being that I’ve been kicked, punched, stabbed, slashed, spat on, hit with a baseball bat, hit over the head with a bottle, and even set on fire by students. There were times when I had to use force on a violent kid, but you won’t see me bullying kids the way this cop does in the video.
The kid was wrong! He either was not taught to respect others especially those in authority or he has rebelled against it. The cop was wrong also, he escalated the problem by losing his cool. I have 2 teen and that type of disrespect is difficult to respond to correctly.
I’m 17 and would know better now not to talk to that guy, I would have just listened. I’m more of a person who likes to talk things out rather than fight. But man oh man, if I saw that cop touch my brother who is 14 I would yell at him like there was no tomorrow. I’m not sure how people like this are hired to protect us, it’s humiliating knowing that people like this are supposedly hired to protect us. I’m a Black belt in martial arts and know for a fact that people like this are not intelligent enough to have a job like this, protecting people is for calm, intelligent humans, unlike this so called COP. And just cause the kid starts talking and calls him Dude doesn’t mean hes a bad kid, hes just a teen. And I think its wrong that they ban skateboarders in so many places. DUDE, THIS DUDE IS TOTALLY UN-RADICAL!
That cop was on overdrive. I taught high school and I took far worse crap and abuse than that cop could’ve taken. He forced himself to get angry. I had a boss that used to act like this too.
Officer Ribieri could’ve gained the upper hand by ticketing those boys for skating where they weren’t supposed to. Or, he could’ve ignored it. But what he does here is abusive.
It’s kind of hard for teachers to tell kids to “cooperate with police” and “respect law enforcement” when they see cops doing stuff like this.
This is outrageous. This pisses me off more than anyone because I am among the majority of cops that go to work every day knowing that we’re there to SERVE the public that pays our wages, not to build our ego. It is not an easy job staying professional and dealing with each person as an individual with all the horrible things we see each day, but that’s our job. People like that should be weeded out on the psych eval and never be allowed to be cops. Any cop that behaves that way should be reported just like these kids did. I don’t want an A. Hole like this sharing my badge.
Wow … you people are freakin’ liberal sissies. Yes, the officer overreacted, but uh … the kid was a punk who needs to learn some respect, especially for those in positions of authority. All of you armchair quarterbacks have never carried a badge, and Ken, you need to stay in Mayberry or remain a mall cop where you don’t have to understand what real cops have to deal with. Try serving in a big city for even a few months and I’ll bet your opinion changes a little. Dealing with punks and the like tend to stiffen your spine a little. You “citizens on patrol” just drinking your lattes and your KoolAid and let the bigboys deal with societies problems.