By Robert Moran The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — Two Philadelphia police officers were arrested Wednesday and charged with illegally detaining a man during an April pedestrian stop in the city’s East Mount Airy section.
Officers Matthew Walsh and Marvin Jones, both assigned to the 14th District, were suspended 30 days with intent to dismiss by Commissioner Richard Ross, the department said.
They both were charged with obstructing administration of law, a felony, and misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment, tampering with records, and official oppression. The charges were approved by the District Attorney’s Office on Monday.
The department said Walsh and Jones, without the necessary reasonable suspicion or probable cause, stopped the man in the 100 block of East Sharpnack Street just after 10 a.m. April 17.
The two officers improperly searched the man, who was not identified, and his vehicle, detained him in handcuffs for about 15 minutes, then drove him a block away and released him, the department said.
Based on surveillance video, internal affairs investigators found that the officers falsified the paperwork on the arrest that they submitted, the department said.
There was no immediate explanation Wednesday night for why the officers stopped the man or what prompted the subsequent internal investigation.
