A Baltimore police officer facing internal discipline for speaking to a Baltimore Sun reporter said in court filings Tuesday that she was exercising free speech and that her comments served a public concern.
Sgt. Carrie Everett, who was then assigned to the Southwestern District, spoke to a reporter after she was administratively charged in connection with an incident in which a murder suspect committed suicide by jumping from a top-floor window while under police supervision at Mercy Medical Center. Everett said the department's policies governing patients in medical custody were flawed and put officers and the suspects at risk.
The department charged her internally with "conduct unbecoming a member of the Baltimore Police Department and speaking with the media without permission." Everett, who now works in the Eastern District, faces an administrative hearing Oct. 16 on those charges.
Police officers below the rank of commander are prohibited from speaking to members of the media. A spokesman said officers are trained to be police officers, not to talk to reporters, and said officers only have a "ground level" view of the department.
In a motion filed in Baltimore Circuit Court on Tuesday asking the department to "show cause" as to why Everett should have to defend herself on the charges, her attorney, Clarke Ahlers, contends that Everett was speaking to a reporter on matters of public concern. Those include the department's general orders concerning procedures when officers guard suicidal suspects and the "practice of the department to make supervisors 'fall guys' for failures of procedure."
Everett was a supervisor on Oct. 28, 2007, when Damon D. Smith slashed his wrists while in police custody. The department's general orders did not spell out how many officers should be assigned to a suicidal suspect or how long an officer should guard a detainee at a hospital before being relieved by another officer, only instructing officers not to assist in their medical care. And there were no instructions for supervisors.
Everett said commanders charged her rather than address what she saw as underlying problems, and said that she had notified her supervisor of her intention to make a public comment, according to court filings.
Smith's family filed a lawsuit against the Police Department in December 2008, which was dismissed in March, according to court records.
