Mayoral candidate Andrey Bundley called yesterday for an end to what he characterized as the over-aggressiveness of Baltimore police, after an incident Sunday in which an officer handcuffed and charged him with putting his campaign fliers on the windshields of parked cars.
Meanwhile, police Commissioner Kevin P. Clark held a news conference to defend his department. Clark said the officer was correct to issue the citation to Bundley. Police said they warned Bundley to stop, but he refused. So the officers handcuffed him for a few minutes while they checked his identification.
After checking Bundley's identification, the officers released him. They also issued him a criminal citation on a single misdemeanor count of violating a city ordinance that forbids people from placing advertising circulars, notices or other printed items on any vehicle without the car owner's permission.
A conviction carries a maximum fine of $50. Bundley has a hearing scheduled for Aug. 9 in state District Court.
Bundley, a Democrat challenging Mayor Martin O'Malley in the Sept. 9 primary, talked to reporters in the parking lot underneath Interstate 83 near Hammerjacks, 316 Guilford Ave., where an officer gave him the citation. "I think there is a philosophy of aggressiveness with this police department," said Bundley, 42, principal of Walbrook High School. "This officer was angry. He was hostile. He was relentless to put me in handcuffs. ... We will continue to campaign, and after we win on Sept. 9, we will deal with this issue of police aggressiveness."
Clark said his officers were not targeting Bundley.
"Cops took the right action here," Clark said. "My officers would have taken the same action regardless who was doing it."
The city's public works department recently issued 79 civil citations - carrying at least a $100 penalty each - to Bundley's campaign for illegally placing campaign signs on utility poles and public property.
City workers have cited O'Malley's campaign twice for illegal campaign signs, leading Bundley to complain that he was being unfairly targeted - a charge denied by the public works department.
Veteran observers of Baltimore politics say that putting campaign literature on car windshields - although illegal - has been common for years, and that police almost never enforce the law.
