Mar 19, 2008 11:18 pm US/Eastern
Business Owners Want Officer In Video Reinstated
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
After a public outcry over a YouTube video showing a Baltimore City police officer manhandling a teenager, some are now coming out in support of the veteran officer.
Kathryn Brown explains why some business owners are demanding the officer be reinstated.
Officer Salvatore Rivieri is now suspended with pay while police investigate his actions. But some residents and business owners in the Inner Harbor area are publicly calling on police and city leaders to reinstate him.
The home video, which is now on YouTube, shows Baltimore City Police Officer Salvatore Rivieri losing his cool with a teenager who was skateboarding along the Inner Harbor, where it is illegal.
In the days after
Eyewitness News broke the story, Officer Rivieri was suspended from the force and an outraged public called for him to be fired.
Eric Bush, the skateboarder seen in the video, spoke with us then.
"I was mad and, like, upset," he said.
But now there is a tide rising among residents and business owners that Officer Rivieri should get his job back.
Rosalind Heid is spearheading the effort, circulating a petition in support of Officer Rivieri. She, too, has trouble with skateboarders vandalizing property. Despite what appears on the video, she and many others are giving Rivieri the benefit of the doubt.
"I did not see it from beginning to end and I don't think anyone has seen it from beginning to end. I think judgments are being made just on that tiny portion," she said.
Shop owner Cindy Soukup agrees and keeps a petition in her store for supporters to sign.
"Oh, I definitely think he should be allowed to come back. I think he should be reprimanded but I think he should be allowed to come back," Soukup said.
"In general, most of us really like that particular officer as a person and as a police officer. He's very aware of the needs and the things we have down here. He's always present, always around," said Chipp Lewis.
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