Police broke down door, won't even apologize
By Sharon Black
Baltimore
Michael Hinton wants a simple apology from the
mayor of Baltimore and the Police Department. So far, Mayor
Martin O'Malley and Police Commissioner Kevin Clarke have
refused to do the right thing.
On July 17, Hinton was sitting in front of his computer when
approximately seven Baltimore city police broke down his door,
yelling at him to get on the floor. Hinton was terrified.
Before he could move, police threw him down and pinned him to
the floor. He was later admitted to Union Memorial Hospital
with heart and breathing problems.
It turned out he was not the person police were searching
for. According to Hinton, they were looking for a 26-year-old
man. He is 54. "How could police not have seen the difference
in age immediately?" asks Hinton.
Hinton points out that he lives in a duplex house with two
apartments and two different buzzers. He is angry because the
police didn't take precautions to assure that they were at the
correct apartment.
Renee Washington is a community organizer with the All
Peoples Congress whose fiancé was killed by the
Baltimore police. She is now working to win justice for Michael
Hinton. She showed him articles from Workers World newspaper on
the case of Alberta Spruill, a 57-year-old woman from Harlem
who died a year ago when police used a no-knock warrant and
concussion grenade to invade her apartment.
Hinton and the All Peoples Congress are seeking justice to
make sure this does not happen to anyone else. On Sept. 8 at 6
p.m. they will hold a neighborhood rally and press conference
at 4558 Shamrock Rd. For more information, call (410)
235-7040.
Reprinted from the Sept. 11, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
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