A report claims that one of the Baltimore police officer's suspended in the wake of Freddie Gray's death in their custody spent time in the hospital after his mental health was questioned.
The Associated Press procured a 2012 report about concerns over Lt. Brian Rice, the top officer suspended following Gray's death:
Worries about Lt. Brian Rice's stability — originally raised by a fellow Baltimore police officer who is the mother of his child — led deputies to confiscate his guns and contact high-ranking police officials, the report says.
Rice, who initially pursued Gray on a Baltimore street when Gray fled after Rice made eye contact April 12, declared three years ago that he "could not continue to go on like this" and threatened to commit an act that was censored in the public version of a report obtained by the AP from the Carroll County, Maryland, Sheriff's Office. Rice lived in the county, about 35 miles northwest of Baltimore.
Deputies reported that Rice appeared normal and soft spoken and said he had been seeking sympathy and attention. But citing credible information, the deputies confiscated both his official and personal guns, called his commanding officer and transported Rice to the Carroll Hospital Center. The weapons included his .40-caliber police pistol, a 9 mm handgun, an AK-47-style rifle, a .22-caliber rifle and two shotguns.
It was not immediately clear how long Rice was at the hospital or whether he went on his own accord.
Furthermore, the Associated Press notes that the details of the report led to "at least two" administrative suspensions for Rice which occurred in 2012 and 2013:
But Rice was accused in June 2012 of removing a semi-automatic handgun from the trunk of his personal vehicle and threatening McAleer, according to a complaint filed in 2013. A police report about that June 2012 incident omitted any reference to allegations that Rice brandished a weapon but noted that officers who responded spent hours searching for Rice over concerns for his welfare.
Although he noted that the Baltimore Police Department had revamped its method of addressing officers' personal matters since Commissioner Anthony Batts arrival in the fall of 2012, Capt. John Kowalczyk, department spokesman, told the Associated Press he was unable to speak on Rice's file:
These are tremendous changes to how we hold people accountable, Kowalczyk said. He credited the changes for what he said were recent declines in complaints about officer misconduct and an increase in the percentage of disciplinary actions sustained by the police department's trial board.
[via Associated Press]
