Victims of Police Misconduct Call for Independent Investigation

GREENBELT, Md., May 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Timothy Maloney and Megan Benevento of the Maryland law firm Joseph Greenwald & Laake, P.A. are calling upon Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich to take immediate action to address discrimination and police lawlessness by Montgomery County police officers in the White Oak area. The firm represents three of the four young men who were victims of racial profiling in a loitering stop outside of a fast food restaurant on May 9, 2019. During law enforcement's unconstitutional stop of the men, the officers illegally detained, handcuffed, degraded, and cited the men solely based on their age and the color of their skin. Maloney explains that his clients "were guilty only of being young, African-American, and male—the offense on the citation might as well have read: 'being young and black in White Oak."

Video from the stop, wherein one officer uses the "N-word" in reference to the men, has gone viral on Twitter. Though the County has publicly released some of the body camera footage from the event, it is incomplete. Maloney sent a letter to Executive Elrich on May 13, demanding full public release of all footage from body-worn cameras. Maloney also called upon the County to release the radio transmissions associated with the stop and the officers' names.

Maloney claims that this stop was part of a larger practice of systemic harassment of young African-American men in White Oak and called upon the County to launch an independent investigation into the officers involved and their use of no-trespass orders.

Maloney's letter to Executive Elrich is attached. All media inquiries should be directed to Megan Benevento, (240) 553-1135.

SOURCE Joseph Greenwald and Laake