By Kevin Rector The Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE ā In a tense traffic stop in East Baltimore last month, the chairman of a panel appointed to improve civilian oversight of the police department refused at least 60 requests for his license and registration. Marvin McKenstry, the chairman of the Civilian Oversight Task Force, argued the stop was unlawful.
The encounter, captured on police body-camera footage obtained by The Baltimore Sun this week through a Public Information Act request, drew at least four officers to the 200 block of Aisquith St. on the afternoon of April 13 ā not long after McKenstry had left a downtown hearing on the cityās consent decree with the Justice Department in U.S. District Court.
McKenstry repeatedly asks fellow oversight panel member Danielle Kushner, whom he has just dropped off, to ācall Ed,ā and later addressed someone on the phone in the midst of the traffic stop as āColonel.ā
Police spokesman T.J. Smith confirmed that McKenstry reached out during the stop to Inspector General Ed Jackson, a former colonel who served on the oversight panel with McKenstry and Kushner before rejoining the police department in February to oversee its Office of Constitutional and Impartial Policing.
Smith said McKenstryās outreach to Jackson ādidnāt have any bearing on the outcome of the traffic stop.ā McKenstry was given five citations totaling $500 in fines.
Those citations did not show up in online court records this week, but Smith said they had not been dropped. Thomas Wenz, a judiciary spokesman, said the court receives hand-written traffic citations from police in batches, and those related to McKenstryās April 13 stop might not have been received yet.
McKenstry, an associate minister at the Victory House of Worship Church in West Baltimore appointed to the oversight panel by Mayor Catherine Pugh, said the traffic stop was āa misunderstanding thatās been resolved.ā
He declined to explain how it had been resolved, or to comment on the circumstances surrounding the stop and his interactions with the sergeant who pulled him over.
āMy focus is on the task force and completing that work for the City of Baltimore,ā McKenstry said.
After The Sun published the footage online Friday, Pugh said the confrontation was āunfortunateā and ācould easily have been avoided.ā The union that represents city officers called on her to āreconsiderā McKenstryās appointment.
Kushner, the fellow task force member, did not respond to a request for comment.
The task force voted in March to approve a set of core āprinciplesā outlining a vastly expanded role for members of the community, including full investigative and subpoena powers for a still-undefined civilian oversight body and civilian input into police policy and budget decisions. The panel is now gathering input from the community before submitting its recommendations. They are due by late June.
There is no sound for the first 30 seconds of the footage from Sgt. Terrence McGowanās body camera. Officersā cameras automatically capture 30 seconds of soundless footage prior to activation by an officer. McGowan, seated in the driverās seat of a patrol vehicle, can be seen gesturing with his hand to McKenstry, who is stopped ahead of him.
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The chair of a Baltimore police oversight panel clashed with officer during traffic stop after a hearing on the consent decree, in an incident captured on body camera video. https://bsun.md/2JS3MXG
Posted by The Baltimore Sun on Friday, May 4, 2018
āHe was stopped in the middle of the roadway with his flashers on,ā McGowan later explains to another officer. āThatās why I pulled him over. I actually hit the air horn several times.ā
āImpeding?ā the other officer asks.
āYeah,ā McGowan says. āAnd waved for him to move forward, and he shook his head no and waved his hand out the window and told me to go around him. So I hit the horn again. He wouldnāt go. Then she got out of the car, and I pulled him over, and it went downhill from there.ā
The stop lasted more than 50 minutes. McGowan repeatedly asks McKenstry for his license and registration. McKenstry gets out of his vehicle, puts his hands on the roof and tells McGowan that he will have to arrest him.
At one point, another officer interjects: āYou’re making this a bigger issue than it has to be. All you have to do is show your license.ā
“It doesn’t have to be an issue at all, because I don’t have to be unlawfully stopped by a sergeant in the Baltimore City Police Department after leaving Judge Bredar’s courtroom,ā McKenstry says. U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar presided over the hearing that morning.
āLicense and registration, sir,ā McGowan responds. āItās not an unlawful stop.ā
āYou can’t stop in the middle of the roadway,ā the second officer says.
McKenstry argues repeatedly that stopping in the street with his flashers on for Kushner to get out was not sufficient reason for him to be pulled over. McGowan says repeatedly that it was.
McKenstry refuses repeatedly to provide his license and registration and tells McGowan he will have to arrest him.
After one request for his license and registration, McKenstry responds: āOr what?ā
āOr you will be subject to arrest,ā McGowan says.
āI asked you to go ahead and do that, so why haven’t you done it?ā McKenstry responds, getting louder.
āBecause I think that youāre letting your emotion get the better of you sir,ā McGowan responds.
āThere’s no emotion,ā McKenstry says. āI sat in my car and spoke calmly to you. I was minding my business.ā
āWhat you fail to realize, sir, is you donāt need to go to Central Booking for this, sir,ā McGowan says. āProvide me with your license and registration.ā
After McGowanās 60th request for McKenstryās license and registration, McKenstry hands over his license and tells McGowan that he doesnāt have his registration. McGowan then goes back to his vehicle to begin writing tickets.
āAll this drama for being double parked,ā McGowan says.
McGowan talks with another officer while in his car.
āI gave him two chances to drive off,ā he says. āAnd then when I did conduct the traffic stop, I gave him multiple chances just to give me his license and registration so that he could have a contact receipt and that I could advise him of the offense that he committed and he could leave. He didnāt want to do any of that. He wants to instigate a problem.ā
He notes that he heard McKenstry āscreaming aboutā McGowan having āno idea who I am.ā
āThat’s right,ā McGowan says. āThat actually goes in my favor, because that proves that I treat everybody the same. I have no idea who he is. Doesn’t matter who he is.”
McGowan writes McKenstry a $60 ticket for stopping in the middle of the street, a $50 ticket for refusing to give him his license, a $50 ticket for not having his registration, and a $290 ticket for āwillfully disobeying a lawful order.ā
When McKenstry refuses to sign those tickets, McGowan writes him another $50 fine for that.
āHeās never going to admit it, but heās going to get home at some point and realize that this was all foolishness, when all he had to do was provide his license and registration,ā McGowan says to another officer. āAnd if he disagrees, and believes that heās been stopped unlawfully, thatās why we have a court system. He can go to court with his tickets and request to be heard by the judge.ā
āSituations like this make me love the body camera,ā the other officer says.
āYep, because Iām not gonna even have to testify on this one,ā McGowan says. āIām just going to play the video.ā
Police Commissioner Daryl De Sousa said McGowan ādid a good job in a tough situation.ā
āHe didnāt want to make an arrest and he was very patient,ā De Sousa said in a statement to The Sun. āThis is a situation that officers encounter on a regular basis.
āWe are working with Mr. McKenstry to continue to improve upon police and community relations. We hope that this encounter can be used as a positive training tool to help build relationships.ā
Lt. Gene Ryan, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, praised McGowanās handling of the stop. He suggested McKenstry should be removed from his oversight position.
āMr. McKenstryās lack of cooperation with a lawful police order caused a lengthy confrontation that did not need to occur,ā Ryan said in a statement. āWhat should have been a 10-minute traffic stop took almost an hour and caused several officers to leave their own posts and duties, endangering other civilians and officers.ā
Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton contributed to this article.
Ā©2018 The Baltimore Sun