Feb 14, 2008 10:00 am US/Eastern
Officer Suspended After Appearing In YouTube Video
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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A 17-year veteran of the Baltimore police force has been suspended with pay pending an internal investigation of his actions involving a 14-year-old skateboarder at Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
CBS
A 17-year veteran of the Baltimore police force has been suspended with pay pending an internal investigation of his actions involving a 14-year-old skateboarder at Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
Richard Sher reports video of the confrontation in question appears on YouTube.com.
It happened mid-summer when City Police Officer Salvatore Rivieri asked 14-year-old Eric Bush and his friends to stop skateboarding at the Inner Harbor. Skateboarding is illegal there.
Bush's friend was videotaping the exchange, which at one point shows the officer grabbing Bush's skateboard and throwing him to the ground.
"He was just like up in my face, yelling at me...then he tackled me," Eric said. "It was like scary because I have diabetes and my blood sugar went crazy 'cause he scared me."
"I started watching the video and couldn't continue. I flipped out," said Peggy Miller, Eric's mother.
"I saw the tape. The officer handled the situation so poorly. It is very clear this is unacceptable," said Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon.
Officer Rivieri, a 17-year veteran of the BCPD, has been suspended with pay while the department conducts an internal investigation.
"The police commissioner, the mayor and the top command staff saw the video and are disappointed," said Sterling Clifford, spokesperson for the Baltimore City Police Department.
The attorney whose law firm represents Rivieri is defending the officer's actions.
"Police officers have a hard job. in this particular video, you don't see what happened before the officer took the boy down to the ground," Henry Belsky said. "Until you see the totality of what happened, one really does not know what reappy happened down there."
Hundreds of
WJZ viewers have e-mailed their opinions about the incident. Two-thirds feel the officer was too harsh with the boy.
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