Civic News

Woman says Baltimore police beat her up for recording them with her phone

According to the Baltimore Sun, Makia Smith "claims in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court that city police destroyed her camera and arrested her because she was recording officers who she observed beating someone else."

Makia Smith, a 31-year-old Baltimore woman, “claims in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court that city police destroyed her camera and arrested her because she was recording officers who she observed beating someone else,” according to the Baltimore Sun.
From the Sun story:

The lawsuit, first reported last month by WBAL-TV when it was filed in Circuit Court, seeks $150,000. The plaintiff, Makia Smith, said that on March 8, 2012, she was driving on Harford Road when she witnessed officers beating a young man, according to the complaint. She said she took out her camera phone and started recording.

The lawsuit says three officers pulled Smith out of her car by her hair after a different officer reached through her car window, grabbed her phone and smashed it on the ground. Smith was taken to Central Booking downtown and charged with second-degree assault and resisting arrest, among other charges, all of which were dropped when the arresting officer didn’t appear in court.
Read the full story at the Baltimore Sun.

Companies: Baltimore Police Department / The Baltimore Sun

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

Interactive timeline: top moments from Baltimore’s challenging yet inspiring year in tech

Baltimore is setting a national standard for diversifying its economy

19 tech and entrepreneurship events to check out before the holidays

Tech lab space opening in new 4MLK building, thanks to $2M in public funds

Technically Media