Horrifying: Ex-Cop Testifies That Baltimore Police Carried Fake Guns to Plant on Suspects
An former Baltimore Police detective testified Tuesday that several corrupt Baltimore cops kept fake guns in their cars to plant on suspects in case they were ever accused of a “dirty shooting.”
Maurice Ward, who is a former member of Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force — the group now involved in an ongoing corruption trial in Maryland — told the jury that while on duty with the Task Force, he noticed that several of his colleagues kept BB guns and other fake weapons in their glove compartments. Ward claimed they kept the toys “in case we accidentally hit somebody or got into a shootout, so we could plant them,” according to the Baltimore Sun.
Although Ward was unable to say whether Baltimore cops had actually ever planted a fake weapon on a dead suspect, at least one of the defendants, one of Ward’s fellow detectives, was found to have a fake gun in his glove compartment following his 2015 arrest.
Six members of the Task Force have already pleaded guilty to racketeering. Two others, Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor, remain on trial for everything from robbery to faking evidence. (Read more from “Horrifying: Ex-Cop Testifies That Baltimore Police Carried Fake Guns to Plant on Suspects” HERE)
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