This incident happened in 2014, but the fate of the police officer in the video below was just determined by the court. The Prince George’s County Police officer, Jenchesky Santiago, was found guilty of 1st and 2nd-degree assault, use of a firearm in violence, and misconduct in office. He will spend at least 5 years in prison.
Back on May 10th 2014, William Cunningham and Kenneth Smith were sitting in their car in front of their home doing absolutely nothing wrong when the officer pulled up, informing them that they were illegally parked. But according to the prosecutor in the case, the car was legally parked as there were no signs, no markings on the curb, no hydrants to suggest an illegal parking situation.
Officer Santiago, it was also revealed, had two unauthorized riders in his cruiser and apparently wanted to show off.
“You guys wanted my attention. You got my attention now.” the officer said.
Having not been legally detained, Cunningham simply tried to walk into his house when all hell broke loose.
Santiago, responding to an innocent man walking into his own home, pulled his gun and pointed it at Cunningham, demanding that he “get back in the car!”
Frightened that he had a madman pressing a gun against his temple ‘so hard that it moved his head,’ Cunningham slowly made his way back to the vehicle. This slow walk was seen as a threat to the tyrant Santiago, which made him even more enraged and more apt to preen for his sadistic audience.
He then pressed the gun directly at the center of Cunningham’s face and mouth, “Go ahead. I dare you to f**king fight me, son.” All of this was captured on video.
After the video was turned off, Cunningham testified in court that Santiago later told them, “Y’all gonna learn about officer Santiago today. I just got back from Iraq. I’m not scared of you all.” He testified that Santiago also said, “You need to watch your attitude because us P.G. cops, we shoot people.”
Cunningham and Smith were then illegally searched without consent. Since Santiago found nothing to charge them with, he made up two counts of disorderly conduct, which would later be thrown out after the video surfaced.
“The actions Officer Santiago chose to take that day are his alone. His behavior is flagrant, appalling and isolated. His actions are among the worst I’ve seen as Chief of Police and that will be taken into account when I make a decision about his employment,” PGPD Chief Mark Magaw said.
“The moment officer Santiago made the decision to act in a reckless, illegal way, he ceased being a police officer,” Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said. “There is no place for that type of behavior in our county or on our police force. Every citizen should be able to walk across their front yard to their door without fear of being assaulted, especially by a police officer.”
Warning! Video contains Graphic Language!
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