Baltimore Police commissioner sides with officer who held gun to restrained man's head

BALTIMORE - Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley defended an officer shown in body-worn camera footage from May pressing a gun against the temple of a 24-year-old man while he was restrained on a sidewalk.

Worley said the officer was doing his job and had not been suspended.

"I've been in that position that officer was in," Worley said. "You're scared, you're fighting for your life 'cause you don't know what he's going to do."

In the moments leading up to the incident in the 1500 block of Washington Street, police went out to investigate an armed robbery.

Charging documents obtained by WJZ reveal that officers believed Jaemaun Joyner was the armed robbery suspect.

When police tried to put him in handcuffs, body camera video shows Joyner attempting to run away before being taken down by law enforcement.

"He's reaching for something," officers said repeatedly.

"What'd you just put in my pocket?," Joyner said to the police.

"Do not reach, do not reach," officers said.

Attorney Tony Garcia, who represents Joyner, said his client was in the area that day to pay respects at a friend's memorial.

He also said Joyner did not match the description of the suspect given to police by the victim.

"My client is 5'7, he's not 6 feet," Garcia said. "He's not wearing a hoodie and he's not even wearing the same colors. So, the only thing he shares with these armed robbers is the color of his skin."

Charging documents state Joyner was found with a loaded handgun.

Garcia said the response was excessive.

"It was outrageous, it was over the top and it's brutal," Garcia said.

This week, the charges against Joyner were dropped mere days before attorneys said the trial was set to start on Thursday.

He was released from jail after spending more than 50 nights there, which was an experience his family said has changed him.

"There's no relief anywhere because my son is suffering," said Rhonda McCain, Joyner's mother. "Everything don't need have to be resolved with a gun being drawn, and not just drawn, to someone's head."

Worley said the incident remains under investigation.

Meanwhile, Joyner's attorneys are now weighing a civil suit.