Baltimore Police Officer Charged With Assaulting Man Who Refused to Wear Face Mask

A Baltimorepolice officer has been indicted for assaulting a man on crutches who allegedly declined to wear a face-covering at a local supermarket.

NBC News reports that Andre Maurice Pringle was charged with one count of second-degree assault and one count of misconduct in office after he allegedly shoved and slammed Brandon Walker to the ground outside of the store on April 19. Though Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan had enforced an executive order obligating everyone to wear masks in public, Walker had allegedly walked into the store with his mask on top of his head. When Walker—who had a cast on his right foot and was on crutches—refused to wear the mask properly, a store manager asked Pringle to help. He was working in the store at the time.

“Officer Pringle, who was in full BPD uniform at the time, approached Walker and advised him that he had to leave the store,” prosecutors said. “The two began walking towards the exit. Walker was yelling and cursing at Officer Pringle as they continued towards the automated entry/exit doors.”

While in the vestibule, Walker apparently stopped and “glared” at Pringle, according to prosecutors. The officer then allegedly held Walker by his jacket, pushed him outside, and slammed him face-first onto the pavement, resulting in Walker hitting his head on the ground. Pringle then purportedly got on top of Walker and folded his left leg upward.

“The contact which started with the shove and continued through the arrest resulted in intentional, harmful, offensive, and unwanted touching by Officer Pringle,” the release said. “The physical assaults were not accidental, consented to, nor legally justified.”