Newly released Baltimore County Police video shows officer pepper-spraying man, lifting him with hair

Days after a grand jury indicted a Baltimore County corporal on charges of second-degree assault, excessive force and reckless endangerment, the county police department released an eight-minute video of the Sept. 27 encounter.

Cpl. Zachary Small’s body-worn camera video showed Small spraying pepper spray in the face of a man he’d taken into custody and placed in the back of a police SUV after the man hit the vehicle’s window.

After the man continued to hit the window and complain that he couldn’t breathe in the hot vehicle, the video showed Small pull the man, who was in handcuffs and leg shackles, out of the vehicle. Small, 51, pushed the man to the ground, grabbed his hair and lifted him up several times, punctuating certain words he yelled by pulling harder. Several other officers can be seen standing nearby.

“You asked for it! You remember this. I warned you,” Small said.

The man’s face was wet and shiny and his eyes were closed tightly as Small held his face inches off the asphalt, according to the video.

“I asked…,” the man said.

“I warned you!” interrupted Small.

The man finished: “…to open the window.”

“Shut up!” Small said.

Although a grand jury indicted Small on one count of first-degree assault in addition to second-degree assault, Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said Tuesday that he decided to drop the felony charge after reviewing evidence over the weekend.

“He maintains that he did his job, he did nothing wrong and we look forward to defending him in court,” Small’s attorney, Brian Thompson, said last week.

Two other county officers — Jacob Roos and Justin Graham-Moore — face charges of misconduct in office for failing to intervene that day.

Baltimore County Police had gone into the city to collect the man who had escaped from police custody at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he had been taken for treatment after being arrested on armed robbery charges.

The man could not be reached Tuesday for comment, but his attorney said he would inform his client that a reporter was trying to reach him during his next jail visit.

The video released Tuesday begins at about 3:30 p.m. with Small, who has 20 years of service with county police, driving up to an alley where a row of city and county police vehicles are parked and getting out of his car. According to the indictment, the alleged assault happened in the 400 block of North Washington Street.

“I’m out with the city,” Small said into his radio, including to the video.

He approached a handcuffed man in a black sweatshirt and dark ripped jeans standing near a Baltimore Police car. Small led him over to a county patrol vehicle, while saying “Nah, you wanna go for a jog? You wanna go for a jog? Do all that?”

“I understand,” said the 32-year-old man, who was wanted for multiple armed robberies in Baltimore County and now is being held without bond at the county jail.

Another county officer shackled the man’s legs, then Small placed him in the backseat of a county patrol vehicle and fastened his seatbelt, according to the video. Small tried to close the car door, but hit the man’s knee which blocked it. He pushed the man’s knee inside and shut the door.

Small then walked away to talk to Baltimore Police officers and Johns Hopkins security guards, but soon returned to the patrol car, where officers were telling the man to stop hitting the window.

Multiple times throughout the video, Small walked away to talk to city officers, but returned to the county car where the man was sitting in the backseat.

“You break that [expletive] window, you’re gonna get that whole can of pepper spray,” Small said to the man.

“I can’t breathe, yo,” the man said in response.

“I don’t care,” Small said.

“You want to get sprayed? I will [expletive] spray you,” Small said.

They argued about the man’s ability to breathe, as Small tried to push him farther inside the car.

“Please don’t kill me like this,” the man said.

Then, Small calmly said, “Watch out. Spray, spray.” He sprayed the man multiple times in the face, then slammed the door and walked away toward the city officers. According to the indictment, Small pepper sprayed the man nine times.

“Not doing it,” Small said.

“I don’t blame you,” said another unidentified officer in response, according to the video.

The man choked and gasped inside the car, according to the indictment, and kicked the door to get officers’ attention.

Small returned to the vehicle, then pulled the man out of the car, according to the video, holding onto the man’s long hair.

“Get on the ground,” another officer said.

“I’m on the ground,” responded the man, then said he couldn’t breathe. “You sprayed that shit right in my eyes.”

“Yes! I warned you several times, but you want to keep on,” Small said.

Small ultimately pushed the man, still handcuffed and shackled, back into the patrol car as he protested. Another officer grabbed the man’s his shoulders to pull him farther into the car’s backseat.

“Y’all don’t do this to y’all dogs, why are you doing this to me?” the man asked.