Baltimore officer resigns after video of him beating a man goes viral

A Baltimore police officer has left the Baltimore Police Department after video of him repeatedly punching a man went viral over the weekend.

The Baltimore Police Department tweeted late Sunday that the officer had resigned, but the tweet didn’t identify the officer.

The Baltimore Sun reported that Warren Brown, the attorney for the man who was punched, previously identified the officer as Arthur Williams, who had been an officer since last year.

A video surfaced over the weekend showing an officer confronting a man before repeatedly punching him. In the video, the man then falls onto a set of stairs, where the police officer continued to strike him. Brown, the attorney, identified the man being hit as Dashawn McGrier, 26.

This Baltimore Police Officer needs to be fired immediately & charged w/ assault. Laws regarding assault still apply to police. This isn’t MMA. Completely shameful. None of that was necessary.

We aren’t asking the city to suspend this man. He needs to be terminated and charged. pic.twitter.com/fCNdEcU2JO

— Shaun King (@shaunking) August 11, 2018

{mosads}

Another officer, who can also be seen in the video, has been “placed on administrative duties,” according to the Baltimore Police Department, which has opened a criminal investigation into the matter.

Brown told The Baltimore Sun that McGrier had a run-in in June with the same officer who beat him.

“It seems like this officer had just decided that Dashawn was going to be his punching bag,” Brown said. “And this was a brutal attack that was degrading and demeaning to my client, to that community, and to the police department.”

The police department had originally suspended the officer with pay pending an investigation.