Baltimore police identify suspended officer seen in video nearly running down person with cruiser

Baltimore City's police commissioner, Richard Worley, spoke during a quarterly consent decree hearing about a viral video that showed an officer driving aggressively and attempting to run over a person with his cruiser.

That officer, identified as Robert A. Parks, has been suspended. He has been a member of the police department since 2020.

"First, I saw it, I thought it was AI, I honestly did," Worley said. "I thought, because you can do so many things with AI. We had to make sure the video was real." 

The department has opened an internal investigation and is reviewing the body-worn camera from that viral incident. 

Park's police powers are now suspended, and he is currently working in an administrative capacity, according to the department. 

"It is not what we want our officers doing, definitely not what we've been training them to do," Worley said. "The best thing we can do is what we've been doing, which is be transparent. We saw it. We don't like it. We did something about it. We suspended the officer, and we're going to hold the officer accountable for his actions." 

Consent decree judge calls video "very troubling"

The video was viewed by thousands online, including U.S. District Judge James Bredar, who is overseeing the department's consent decree progress. 

During Thursday's quarterly hearing to review BPD's progress, the judge called the video "very troubling." 

"It's just egregious," Worley said. "That's not what we teach our officers to do. It's not what we want our officers doing, and it's going to damage our relationship with the community, which is the thing that we're trying to build up the most."

Progress of Baltimore's consent decree

Eight years after the decree placed the city's police department under federal oversight, there are still some major issues that stick out to officials in court, citing staffing shortages and a backlog of nearly 500 disciplinary cases. 

Officials in court also recognized the progress that the department has made since the consent decree began.

"Hopefully, within the next couple of years, we will have it completely satisfied, and we can come out from under federal monitoring," Worley said. "(That) Doesn't mean we're going to change anything. We're going to continue to progress and rebuild the department while we still lower crime."

Worley continues, "And unfortunately, one bad incident like this sets you back months and years to all the progress that we've made."

Condemning the officer's actions

Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue and Baltimore City Public Defender Marguerite Lanaux issued a joint statement on Thursday condemning the officer's conduct and demanding additional transparency. 

Their remarks call on state agencies to uphold their legal obligation to release public records and honor Maryland's consent decree.

"This dangerous and reckless conduct represents a flagrant abuse of power and disregard for human life—exactly why transparency and accountability are constitutional imperatives," Dartigue and Lanaux said in a joint statement.