Maryland Police Officer Charged With Kidnapping & Perjury Over ‘Illegal Traffic Stop’

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BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A Prince George’s County expansive assemblage past week indicted a Maryland constabulary serviceman connected respective charges tied to what authorities described arsenic an amerciable postulation stop, the Office of the State Prosecutor said Tuesday.

Phillip Dupree, a Fairmount Heights constabulary officer, is the taxable of a 13-count indictment charging him with aggregate counts of kidnapping, perjury and misconduct successful office related to the August 2019 postulation halt of Torrence Sinclair, according to a transcript of the charging papers reviewed by WJZ.

The indictment accuses Dupree of illegally pulling implicit Sinclair successful Washington, D.C., connected oregon astir Aug. 3, 2019, and spraying him with Mace portion helium was handcuffed. Dupree is accused of not seeking attraction for Sinclair and past holding him for respective hours earlier yet taking him to jail.

Dupree is accused of filing misleading paperwork astir the postulation stop, saying that Sinclair received aesculapian attraction for the capsicum spray and was taken to an Upper Marlboro jailhouse “without incident.”

“Any instrumentality enforcement serviceman who abuses their power, and past intentionally provides mendacious accusation regarding their actions, should beryllium held accountable,” State Prosecutor Charlton Howard said. “Our bureau volition enactment to guarantee individuals who maltreatment constabulary powers are investigated and wherever appropriate, prosecuted.”

According to the indictment, Sinclair was not treated by archetypal responders for the effects of the capsicum spray, contempt the beingness of an ambulance astatine the country of the postulation stop. The indictment said the serviceman told dispatchers astir 2:15 a.m. helium was taking Sinclair to an Upper Marlboro jail.

Instead, the indictment states, Dupree brought Sinclair to the Fairmount Heights Police Department and near him unsocial and handcuffed for respective hours, adjacent though the installation doesn’t person a holding cell. He did not pass them helium would beryllium making immoderate stops on the way.

Afterward, Dupree drove Sinclair successful his idiosyncratic conveyance to the Department of Corrections, according to charging documents. The brace didn’t get astatine the jailhouse until astir 5:30 a.m.

Arrestees are expected to beryllium “transported without unnecessary hold to the nearest processing facility,” according to Fairmount Heights Police Department policy, which requires officers to use “the astir nonstop and expeditious way of travel.”

Statements of charges and probable origin filed by Dupree stated that the postulation halt happened adjacent Washington, D.C. and that archetypal responders “decontaminated” Sinclair aft helium was sprayed with Mace. The documents did not notation taking Sinclair to the Fairmount Heights Police Department.

The indictment accuses Dupree of kidnapping Sinclair and perjuring himself successful paperwork helium aboriginal filed astir the postulation stop. It besides alleges the serviceman “committed misconduct successful bureau erstwhile helium made factual misrepresentations, worldly omissions, and falsehoods regarding the incident.”

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Dupree was previously named successful a national indictment successful August that accused him and 5 different officers of fraud. Among different things, that indictment alleges that Dupree withdrew currency from ATMs, filed mendacious reports saying his slope cards was stolen and sought reimbursement from his bank.