Former Baltimore Police Officer Michael A Wood Jr publicly blows the whistle on police corruption
Baltimore Police has faced other accusations of racism and misconduct recently
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Your support makes all the difference.A former Baltimore police officer has taken to Twitter to publicly blow the whistle on incidents of corruption and inappropriate behaviour that he saw during his police career.
Michael A Wood Jr is a former officer with the Baltimore Police Department and former United States Marine, who yesterday announced he would "start tweeting the things I've seen and participated in, in policing that is corrupt, intentional or not."
His long list of allegations against Baltimore's police sheds new light on a force that has come under harsh criticism recently due to the death of Freddie Grey, who died while being transported to a police station after being arrested on 12 April.
His death prompted protests and rioting in Baltimore and across America, and all six of the officers involved in his death were indicted.
Wood's tweets appear to paint a picture of racism within Baltimore's police force, with one claiming that the police unfairly targeted young black men more than any other group.
Other accusations include a detective slapping a completely innocent woman in the face after she bumped into him, an officer kicking a handcuffed suspect in the face, and CCTV cameras deliberately not filming arrests of suspects.
Wood's handful of tweets gained more attention than he expected, with him writing at one point: "I was not ready for anyone to pay attention."
Today, Wood posted yet more accusations, this time relating to cases of hit and run and officers allegedly "snitching" to drug dealers.
He mentions drug dealers "magically" knowing where the force's narcotics team was, adding that he suspected it was Daniel Redd, the police officer sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for dealing drugs in 2012.
Wood has promised to keep revealing incidents of wrongdoing, and has said he will shed light on issues of internal corruptions and that "deplorable ways in which police are treated by command and city."
In a statement to The Huffington Post, Detective Rashawn Strong, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department said: "The recent allegations made by Mr Michael Wood are serious and very troubling."
"The Police Commissioner has made clear that the Baltimore Police Department will never tolerate malicious conduct."
He added that he hoped Wood reported the incidents at the time, and added that if he had not, he should do so now, so an investigation can begin.
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