Baltimore County police are reviewing the arrest of two men accused of robbing a Woodlawn bar during an officer’s retirement party this week.
Joseph McInnis III, 21, and Tyree McCoy, 22, suffered injuries while fighting with officers who attempted to arrest them, according to an incident report released by the department. Booking photos show McCoy’s left eye appears red and swollen shut, and he has a small white bandage over his eyebrow. McInnis appears to have a wound near his left eye.
Police spokesman Cpl. Shawn Vinson said the department is conducting an “administrative investigation at this point, as with any use of force by our officers.”
Police said McInnis and McCoy approached the carryout counter of Monaghan’s Pub on Gwynn Oak Avenue around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, demanded cash from the register and then took off.
Three off-duty officers who chased and arrested McCoy and McInnis were celebrating a sergeant’s retirement at Monaghan’s.
They arrested the suspects in the area of Summerfield Road and Gwynn Lake Drive, according to a police incident report. The officers repeatedly yelled for the suspects to stop and identified themselves as police officers, but the suspects continued running, the report said.
McInnis appeared to pull his gun up to his stomach, prompting the officers to tackle him and McCoy, who officers feared had a gun in his waistband, the report said. One officer then “began to deliver a series of punches to the face and head of McCoy with his closed fist,” but McCoy still resisted, the report said.
A gun that had been carried by McInnis was later determined to be a pellet gun, the report said.
“These officers were pursuing suspects involved in an armed robbery. They received information that the suspects were armed. [The suspects] were later charged,” Vinson said.
McInnis, of the first block of Inwood Ave., and McCoy, of the 3500 block of Cedar Drive, were charged with armed robbery, theft and related offenses. They were being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center. Neither had attorneys listed in online court records.
Only one officer had a gun during the incident, the report said. The names of the officers were redacted from the report.
Surveillance video from Monaghan’s captured the robbery, the report said.
*Appears*?
Journalists are such idiots.
The facts are there for all to see. Just state them.