How a Baltimore pizza shop helped clear an innocent man

In yet another example of eyewitness unreliability, the Baltimore police arrested two innocent men for armed robbery that had solid alibis but had been identified as the perpetrators by their supposed victims. The young men insisted that they had a solid alibi, and later produced video evidence proving it.

The father of one of the men is calling for an official apology from the police department. The father, as well as the two wrongfully accused, claim that the department that made the arrests in a South Baltimore neighborhood late on Saturday night, March 24, did not perform due diligence in their investigation. They argue that the police hastily made arrests without looking into alibis or even searching the suspects’ properties for the stolen items.

The police contend that the arrests were made correctly based off of the information the police department had at the time, including eyewitness identification by one of the victims who said that she carefully studied the face of her attacker and would never forget it. She was wrong and obviously did forget it. Video surveillance proved her testimony wrong.

Baltimore police arrested two innocent men when they could have easily verified that they were in a different place at the time of the violent crime. That means that the two armed robbers responsible for that night’s attack are on the loose. This is a perfect example of how hasty, reckless police work can tarnish innocent people’s reputations while also keeping danger on the streets. It’s also an example of how the emotions behind a crime victim’s testimony can lead to false accusations.

Source: The Baltimore Sun, “Father of young man cleared in armed robbery wants police to apologize,” Peter Hermann, April 2, 2012

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