2 Baltimore schools officers face charges after video probe

BALTIMORE (AP) – Two Baltimore schools police officers have been charged after cellphone video surfaced showing one of them slapping and kicking a teen at a school while the second officer stood by.

Anthony Spence, 44, and Saverna Bias, 53, turned themselves in Tuesday night, city police announced in a written statement Wednesday morning. Both are charged with second-degree assault and misconduct in office. Spence is also charged with second-degree child abuse. Online court records show both posted bond and were released Wednesday.

In a statement of charges released Wednesday, police allege that a witness said Bias told Spence, “You need to smack him because he’s got too much mouth,” and Spence then hit and kicked the teen. Police note that Spence was not trying to arrest the teen and wasn’t acting in reasonable self-defense.

Attempts to reach Spence’s attorney and Bias by phone Wednesday were not successful.

Spence acknowledged in a telephone conversation with The Associated Press on Friday that he was the subject of a criminal investigation into the actions captured on cellphone video last week at the REACH Partnership School. Spence said last week that he wouldn’t discuss the matter because the news media would “twist” the story.

“Right now, I’m the bad guy,” he said. He referred questions to his lawyer, Michael Davey, who didn’t immediately respond to a phone call Wednesday morning.

City police began a criminal investigation into last week’s incident at the school after the eight-second clip surfaced. City police said in the statement Wednesday that case is now in the hands of the public integrity unit of the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office.

The school district has its own police force separate from city police. The school police department is conducting an internal investigation.

School officials initially said officers responded to a reported intruder, and that the young man in the video wasn’t a REACH student. On Friday, the school system said in a statement that he is “believed to be a student on the school’s roster,” as asserted by his lawyer, Lauren Geisser. Geisser has said he’s a 10th-grader.

On Monday, Baltimore City Schools CEO Gregory Thornton met with parents to discuss the video and said he will review training and selection of school police officers.

The two officers were put on paid administrative leave. School Police Chief Marshall Goodwin is also on leave, but officials have not said why.

Spence formerly worked for the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office, and was fired in 2002 after he was involved in the violent arrest of a man the officers falsely identified as a robbery suspect.

Spence also serves as the vice president of Sentinel Protection Agency, a private security firm, along with Clyde Boatwright, who is the company’s chief executive officer. Boatwright, who was also involved in the 2002 incident as a deputy sheriff and fired from the sheriff’s office alongside Spence, is now the Baltimore School Police union president.

Goodwin was a public information officer for the sheriff’s office at the time Spence and Boatwright were fired.