Officer Robert Parks Suspended After Chase Video

A viral video filmed in Park Heights shows a Baltimore police officer in a marked patrol car chasing a man on foot, driving off pavement through a grassy lot and crashing through a fence after narrowly missing the person. The footage, viewed widely on social media, appears to show the officer attempting to run the man down and prompted public condemnation from Police Commissioner Richard Worley and Mayor Brandon Scott. The officer, identified as Robert Parks, has had his police powers suspended while Baltimore Police Department Internal Affairs and the State’s Attorney’s Public Trust & Police Integrity Unit opened parallel investigations; the state’s attorney said Parks will not be called as a witness in prosecutions during the probe. A federal judge overseeing the city’s consent decree said he was “very, very troubled” by the video. Witnesses say the encounter began after officers told a group to move and that the chased man may have faced a warrant for failing to appear on a driving-without-a-license charge; the man reported a sore knee but otherwise survived and investigations continue.