Officer “Dude” Rivieri Cleared of Excessive Force Charges

Everyone will probably remember this video from 2007. Officer Rivieri of the the Baltimore Police assaulted a 14-year old boy and then lectured him on “respect.”

From the Baltimore Sun:

The Baltimore police officer who was caught on video berating and pushing a 14-year-old skateboarder at the Inner Harbor three years ago has been cleared of the most serious administrative charges, a police union leader said Tuesday.

A three-member police panel called a trial board held a hearing last week and found Officer Salvatore Rivieri guilty of failing to issue the youth a citizen contact receipt and file a report but not guilty on charges of using excessive and unnecessary force and uttering a discourtesy.

Read the rest here.

The most disgusting part of this (other than the fact that Officer Rivieri was not charged with assault) was Robert Cherry’s, president of the city’s police union, response to the ruling.

Cherry called the ruling just and chastised the department for not backing Rivieri in the face of nationwide criticism and debate generated by the video viewed by hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube.

“I wish the department had a little bit more courage when they’re out there doing their job,” Cherry said Tuesday. “Despite what people may have thought, despite what people saw on that short video, Officer Rivieri was doing his job.”

Doing his job?  His job is to violently throw a young boy to the ground and make numerous threats of more violence? I wish the department had a little bit more courage too Mr. Cherry. If they did maybe they would have locked up this violent bully instead of allowing him to remain free to terrorize more of us mundanes.