By Annie Linskey and Gus G. Sentementes , Sun reporters|February 12, 2008
A Baltimore police officer was suspended yesterday after a YouTube video surfaced on the Internet showing him berating and manhandling a teenage skateboarder at the Inner Harbor.
On the video, the officer, Salvatore Rivieri, puts the boy in a headlock, pushes him to the ground, questions his upbringing, threatens to "smack" him and repeatedly accuses the youngster of showing disrespect because the youth refers to the officer as "man" and "dude."
At one point, Rivieri, a 17-year veteran of the force, says:
"Obviously, your parents don't put a foot in your butt quite enough, because you don't understand the meaning of respect. First of all, you better learn how to speak. I'm not `man.' I'm not `dude,' I am Officer Rivieri. The sooner you learn that, the longer you are going to live in this world. Because you go around doing this kind of stuff and somebody is going to kill you."
Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department and the mayor's office, said authorities have begun an internal-affairs investigation.
"The entire incident raised red flags for all of the members of the command staff who watched the video," Clifford said.
He said yesterday afternoon that Mayor Sheila Dixon had not seen the video, which appears to have been shot last summer, but that its contents had been described to her and that she was "very displeased."
"We have invested a lot of time and energy in having better relations between the community and the police," Clifford said. "The bad behavior of one police officer can jeopardize a lot of hard work."
Clifford said Rivieri's suspension entails a transfer to administrative duties with pay.
Reached at home Sunday, Rivieri said he was not aware that the incident had been recorded or posted to a public Web site. He acknowledged having encounters with skateboarders at the Inner Harbor last summer and told a reporter that he would review the video on YouTube.
"These kids, they've got nothing better to do," Rivieri said.
Yesterday, after being suspended, Rivieri said, "I have no comment. Thank you."
Attempts to e-mail the person who posted the video were unsuccessful. Police said they do not know the identity of the youth involved or who shot the video.
Clifford said the department has tried to e-mail, through YouTube, the person who posted the video and is contacting area schools in an attempt to find the boy.
