Officer who ignored armed man report separated from agency

BALTIMORE – Police say a Baltimore officer who brushed off two firefighters’ report of an armed man is no longer with the department.

At a news conference Wednesday, Acting Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle said the officer has been separated from the agency.

Earlier this month, Tuggle called the officer’s response “totally unacceptable.”

Police shared firefighters’ dash cam video from early on July 6 that shows the armed man cross their path downtown. They note that the man is ditching a gun and later searching in bushes. The firefighters call 911, and later tell an officer they spot a few blocks away. But she responds, “This isn’t my district.”

Police say the gun was found later.

Tuggle said officers have a “responsibility to serve any place in the city.”