Baltimore Officer Indicted on Attempted Murder Charge After Viral Video Shows Him Chasing Man in Police Cruiser By Janelle Griffith

A Baltimore police officer has been indicted on attempted murder and assault charges after he was captured in a viral video chasing a man with his police vehicle while on duty last month.

Officer Robert Parks was indicted on charges of attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first and second degrees, reckless driving and misconduct in office, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates announced at a news conference this week. If found guilty of all charges, Parks faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison, Bates said.

“The charges brought forward in this indictment reflect the seriousness and dangerous nature of the actions we all witnessed in the viral video of Officer Parks driving his vehicle directly at the civilian while on duty,” Bates said, adding that anyone — whether a police officer or a civilian — operating a vehicle in such a manner would face the same charges.

Bates said the prosecutor handling the case, Steve Trostle, and other investigators from the agency’s Public Trust and Police Integrity Unit, have secured additional video, including from businesses in the vicinity, that the public has not yet seen that have helped piece together what occurred. Bates said he found some of those videos “disturbing,” and that “the viral video doesn’t show” everything that happened.

Parks turned himself in on Wednesday and the following day he was released on his own recognizance, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office tells PEOPLE. He has not yet been arraigned. Parks, who was initially suspended, is now suspended without pay, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement this week. Chaz Ball, Parks’ attorney, declined to comment Friday, Nov. 14.

The indictment alleges that about 5 p.m. on Oct. 28, Parks drove to a liquor store on the 3000 block of Wylie Avenue, got out of his vehicle and approached several people who were standing on the sidewalk. “It’s getting a little hot, guys,” he allegedly told the group, according to the indictment. “I just need you guys to take a lap, you know.”

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One of the individuals, a man, then walked away, and as the rest of the group dispersed, Parks got back into his patrol vehicle, drove a short distance and stopped along the curb to the right of the first person who had walked away, the indictment alleges. Parks then called the man by name, told him to come over and then got out of his vehicle again, according to the indictment.

Parks is alleged to have told the man: “Don’t make it worse. I’m going to be straight up with you. I’m going to be straight up with you. You gotta come.” Parks allegedly motioned with his finger for the man to come toward him, and the man said, “No,” then turned and walked away.

At this point, the indictment alleges, Parks yelled out, “All right, I’m gonna call the dogs and come get you.” As the man walked away on a paved driveway, Parks returned to his patrol cruiser and said over his police radio, “I have one running, adult male … in the alley,” according to the indictment, which also alleges that he then drove his cruiser into a paved driveway directly at the individual, with increasing speed.

The man, who Bates said had a misdemeanor warrant at the time, ran and tried to avoid Parks, who steered his vehicle directly at the man and struck him, the indictment alleges. After being hit, the man ran away from the patrol cruiser and Parks continued to drive at him, the indictment says. The man next ran onto a sidewalk and between a utility pole and a fence, and Parks drove his SUV onto the sidewalk, between the utility pole and the fence, directly at the man, according to the indictment.

The man continued to run away from Parks, who, the indictment alleges, made a U-turn and drove down in the man’s direction, plowing through a stationary chain-link fence and into a backyard, “nearly striking the man and causing him to jump over a fence to avoid being hit.”

At that time, Parks’ cruiser became disabled, and he got out of it and pursued the man on foot, according to the indictment, which says he stopped within seconds of initiating the foot chase to return to his patrol cruiser.

The Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, the union which represents Parks, said in a statement that an indictment does not equal guilt, and alleged “certain important and relevant facts that were known to” Parks during the encounter were not disclosed at Bates’ news conference.

“We ask the public to keep an open mind after watching the video and listening to” Bates, the union’s statement said.