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Baltimore Police investigating incident where officer refused to respond to report of an armed man
Interim Baltimore Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle answers questions about an investigation into an incident where an officer allegedly refused to respond to a situation. Image Source: WJZ-TV screenshot

Baltimore Police investigating incident where officer refused to respond to report of an armed man

Baltimore Police are investigating an incident in which a police officer allegedly told two witnesses that she would not investigate a man acting suspiciously with a gun because it was not in her district.

Here's what you need to know

On July 6, two firefighters were driving in Baltimore when they saw a man cross the street with a gun sticking out of his waistband, WJZ-TV reported. The man then threw his gun in the bushes and walked away.

“Oh! He just threw it. Threw it in the bushes,” one of the voices on the dashcam video called out. “He probably just did a shooting,” the other voice speculated.

The firefighters called the police twice to report the incident. A few blocks from the scene, they found a few police cars parked on the side of the road.

“Hey, can you help me out?” one of the firefighters asked someone offscreen, whom they identified as a police officer. “There’s a guy who just dumped a gun. I just called it in twice, but it took them forever to respond. Right there at St. Paul and Lexington.”

“Sir, right now I’m going back to the station. You called it in? This isn’t my district. Call them.” the unidentified officer responded.

Baltimore's Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle told reporters on July 16 that all Baltimore PD officers are obligated to go to any part of the city where they are needed. “Again, this is totally unacceptable. We've got a responsibility, no matter where you are, if you wear this uniform and this badge, it says 'Baltimore City' and you've got the responsibility to serve any place in the city.”

“Everybody in this city deserves a police service that is responsive,” Tuggle added.

Tuggle said that he was not sure at this point in the investigation how long it took for police to respond, but he did know that the suspect was never found or questioned, but the gun was eventually recovered.

Tuggle also said that no violent crimes had been reported in that area just before the gun was discarded.

Although the video of this incident is dated July 6, Tuggle said that he was only alerted to this incident by his department's internal affairs office on Saturday. The police officer involved in this incident has not yet been identified.

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