Reason for the Stop Unknown [Racism/White Supremacy]. Reason for the Search: Smell of Weed [White Supremacy]. Reason for the Arrest at the time of Arrest Unknown [White Supremacy] The footage shows seven white officers searching the car of Insley’s client, Shamere Collins, on Nov. 29, 2016. Halfway through the footage, the officer is seen turning off his body camera. When the footage is turned back on, the officers quickly find bags of heroin and marijuana where an officer was searching previously. There are 11 videos, the clip above is a summary video. The other videos below are presented in order 1-10  [MORE].

From [HERE] and [HERE] For the second time in as many weeks, Baltimore police body-camera video has emerged showing what defense attorneys say is officers planting drugs on a criminal defendant.

Josh Insley, a local defense attorney, released the footage Tuesday, a day after the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office dropped all charges against his client based on concerns raised by the video. Insley said he believes the video shows officers “engage in what appears to be a staged recovery of narcotics,” and that he will be pursuing legal action against the police department. Videos 1-3 below. 

Insley’s client, Shamere Collins, 35, was arrested on Nov. 29, 2016 after police stopped her vehicle after observing a passenger conducting what officers believed was a drug deal, according to case records. After stopping the vehicle, police said they smelled marijuana, searched the car, and recovered heroin and marijuana. Charges were filed against Collins and the passenger.

“Those drugs were not in that car when we were pulled out, the state dismissed the case against me and my attorneys are reviewing the tapes to see what steps to take next,” Collins said in a statement.

The Baltimore public defender’s  (BPDS) officer represents the co-defendant - the unnamed Black man. [MORE]

A series of body-camera videos — shows multiple officers thoroughly searching a car, including the driver’s area, and then turning their cameras off and back on in an unexplained way. Videos 4-5 below. 

“When the cameras come back on one officer is seen squatting by the driver’s seat area. The group of officers then wait approximately 30 seconds,” the public defender’s office said in a statement. “Shortly thereafter, another officer asks if the area by that compartment has been searched. Nobody responds, and the officer reaches in and locates a bag that appears to contain drugs right by where the prior officer was, and where the car had been thoroughly searched about a half an hour prior with absolutely no results.”

A review of the time-stamped footage, which was obtained by The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday and authenticated by the police department, showed that series of events. Videos 6-7 below. 

In one video, time-stamped about 11:50 p.m., an officer is seen searching the driver’s side. He spends about a minute searching the area, finding nothing.

In a second video, time-stamped about 12:20 a.m., officers are seen standing around as one officer asks if anyone had searched the area near the driver’s seat. He begins searching and almost immediately comes up with a bag of alleged drugs.

In a third video, also time-stamped about 12:20 a.m. and recorded from the body camera of the officer conducting the search, the officer can be seen pulling the bag from the driver’s seat area, which he suggests contains marijuana and other drugs. Videos 8-9 below.

Police said the officer who found the drugs was not the same officer who had initially searched the driver’s area, and had a better sense of where to search because he had been conducting surveillance prior to the traffic stop.

The officers in the video have not been named. Video 10 below. 

Last summer, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a scathing report in which investigators said the police department engaged in widespread discriminatory and unconstitutional policing practices, particularly in poor, predominantly black neighborhoods. The city and the Justice Department later entered into a consent decree that mandates reforms and is in its early stages. An independent monitor, who will report directly to a federal judge, has yet to be appointed.

In March, seven police officers on an elite Gun Trace Task Force were indicted on federal racketeering charges alleging they robbed citizens, filed false court paperwork and committed overtime fraud. Two of those officers have pleaded guilty. Others have pleaded not guilty; one has not entered a plea.

The public defender’s announcement Monday of the existence of video in Collins’ case followed a news conference by Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby last week, in which she said two police body-camera videos were under review.

The first was one previously released by the public defender’s office about two weeks ago. In that video, the office said a police officer can be seen placing a bag of alleged drugs among debris in a backyard lot, walking out to the street, activating his body camera — which had automatically recorded 30 seconds before activation — and then returning to the alley and recovering the same bag.

Police suspended the officer, Officer Richard Pinheiro. They placed two others seen watching Pinheiro in the footage, Officers Hovhannes Simonyan and Jamal Brunson, on administrative duty pending an investigation.

Police also released several other body-camera videos from that incident that they said showed officers legitimately finding drugs in the alley and on a buyer and a seller involved in an initial drug deal that had prompted the police action that day. They said they were investigating, among other things, whether the video in question showed the officers “reenacting” a legitimate discovery of drugs that had not initially been recorded as it should have been. [MORE]