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Kaiya Parker didn’t want to put on his shirt.
On June 20, 2020, Parker testified, he was standing on the platform of the Rogers Avenue Metro Station in Northwest Baltimore. He said he did not intend to get on a train. Instead, he said, he was waiting for a family member to pick him up.
Parker testified that his shirt had been on the ground. He didn’t want to put it back on because of germs — particularly, he said, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shortly before 11:15 p.m., Maryland Transit Administration Police Officer Aaron Sewell approached Parker and told him to put on his shirt.
“I just wanted to leave the premises,” Parker, 33, of Old Goucher, testified on Monday in the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse.
But Parker testified that Sewell blocked his path. Next, Sewell put his hand on him. Parker said he pushed it away.
That’s when, prosecutors allege, Sewell punched him several times in the face, picked him up and slammed him to the ground. Surveillance cameras captured the confrontation.
Sewell, 32, of Sandtown-Winchester, who served as an MTA police officer from 2016-2021, is standing trial this week in Baltimore Circuit Court on charges of second-degree assault and misconduct in office.
Circuit Judge Martin H. Schreiber II is presiding over the case. Sewell has opted for a bench trial, which means that the judge will decide whether the former police officer is guilty or not guilty of the charges against him.
In his opening statement, Assistant State’s Attorney Steven Trostle said the case was about what the grand jury alleged in its indictment: excessive force.
Trostle recounted the moment when Parker swatted away Sewell’s hand.
“It sent Officer Sewell into an absolute rage,” Trostle said. “He went into, ‘Boxing ring, boxing match.’”
Sewell, he said, then body-slammed Parker into a metal trash can, like what happens in a professional wrestling match.
But Chaz Ball, Sewell’s attorney, said his client used various methods of de-escalation before acting in accordance with his training.
Parker was making threats and got into a fighting stance, Ball said.
Sewell, he said, grew up in Baltimore, graduated from Northwestern High School and entered into public service, first serving as a detention officer for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. He left the MTA Police Force in good standing and decided to become a firefighter, Ball said.
“This case is about Mr. Parker squaring up and the state cutting corners,” Ball said in his opening statement, noting that the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office does not plan to call a use-of-force expert.
Throughout his testimony, Parker repeatedly said he could not recall certain details from that night and, at one point during cross-examination, asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. He’s currently incarcerated in an unrelated case involving charges of first- and second-degree assault and openly carrying a deadly weapon with the intent of injuring any person, according to online court records.
Parker’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Janet Andersen, sat next to him in a metal folding chair and provided counsel. He later testified that he experienced a head injury and often forgets information and blacks out.
In one recorded jailhouse phone call, Parker remarked that he had a “million-dollar lawsuit.”
Earlier in the court proceedings, MTA Police Capt. Anjanette McBride identified and authenticated five state exhibits, including surveillance video depicting the confrontation.
McBride read aloud parts of the MTA Police Force’s use of force policy, including one part that states that police officers must only use the minimum amount necessary to accomplish their mission.
MTA Police Officer Tony Hynson testified that he responded to a Signal 13 — a call for a police officer in need of assistance — but added that “everything was pretty much under control” when he got to Rogers Avenue Metro Station.
Hynson testified that he later took Parker to the Baltimore Central Booking & Intake Center and filed the statement of charges against him.
On cross-examination, Hynson testified that Parker was acting belligerent, making threats and threatening to sue.
The trial is set to continue Tuesday.
dylan.segelbaum@thebaltimorebanner.com
Read more
- Baltimore Police officer guilty of reckless endangerment for failing to prevent assault, judge rules
- Baltimore jury deadlocks for 2nd time in case of police officer charged with assaulting man while off-duty
- Baltimore judge throws out case against detective accused of assaulting man who refused to put on mask and leave supermarket at start of COVID-19 pandemic
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Dylan Segelbaum is the courts reporter at The Baltimore Banner.
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