BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore judge convicted a city police officer of reckless endangerment on Tuesday, finding that he failed to defend an assault victim during an investigation, prosecutors said.
The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s office said that when Officer Christopher Nguyen, 27, responded to an assault call in 2020, he failed to supervise or detain Kenneth Sommers, creating “a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to the victim, Wayne Brown, a physically incapacitated individual at the time,” news outlets reported.
Body-worn camera footage showed Nguyen speaking to Sommers, who says a man stole a vehicle from his business and after he tracked the vehicle, he confronted the man. Sommers had pulled the man from the vehicle and beaten him, according to charging documents.
Brown can be seen lying in the grass nearby and Sommers leans over him and says, “Hey, can you see that? Can you see? So you can remember me,” before kicking Brown in the head.
Online court records show Sommers was convicted of first-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
Nguyen faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up $5,000 at sentencing on Oct. 27.
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