Internal affairs reviews controversial arrest

WASHINGTON — The Montgomery County Department of Police has launched an internal investigation, examining a controversial Aug. 10 arrest.

ABC7 video shows a white police officer struggling with a 16-year old black teenager in Germantown as he arrests him.

“The very hour that we received that video, a review of all the circumstances surrounding that event began,” says Montgomery County Police Capt. Paul Starks.

The department is being careful to explain itself amid particularly raw racial tension across the U.S. between police and the public.

This week, Montgomery County police officials held a special meeting with a liaison committee made up of African American members of the community.

“The chief and other department leadership shared how this investigation was going and also listened and heard from members of that committee,” Starks says.

According to Starks, internal affairs detectives have been analyzing evidence and speaking to witnesses, including the teenager who was arrested.

The officer confronted the boy and his friends after receiving a report that they were smoking marijuana.

However, no marijuana was recovered.

Starks says internal investigations such as these sometimes last 30 to 60 days.

“If it does take that length of time, department leadership, even the chief, will be in contact with members of the community,” Starks says.

See the video, courtesy of ABC7:

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