Four Baltimore Police Officers Indicted, Suspended Over Excessive Force Charges

Officer Kevin Dugan pressed a police espantoon against a juvenile's throat during crowd control in Fells Point on June 8, 2024, then kneed and stepped on the teenager before using the baton again on the back of the juvenile's neck while the child lay on the ground, prosecutors allege. That encounter is the most detailed of four separate excessive-force cases a Baltimore City grand jury weighed before returning indictments Friday.

State's Attorney Ivan Bates announced the indictments Monday, naming Dugan alongside Officers Menachem Rosenbloom, Mordechai Mandelbaum, and Kevin Hilton. All four have been suspended. Dugan faces five counts of Misconduct in Office; prosecutors also allege he sprayed a separate person in the face with OC spray and then failed to render medical aid. Hilton is charged with Second-Degree Assault and Misconduct in Office. Mandelbaum faces False Report, False Statement, and two counts of Misconduct in Office. Rosenbloom carries the broadest charge sheet: Second-Degree Assault, False Report, False Statement, and four counts of Misconduct in Office. The false-report counts against Mandelbaum and Rosenbloom reflect allegations that officers, in some cases, fabricated justifications for their actions after the fact.

"Allegations of excessive use of force by police officers strike at the very foundation of public trust," Bates said. "When that trust is eroded, so too is public safety." Commissioner Richard Worley said the department takes such allegations "extremely seriously, as the integrity of our profession depends on it." The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 did not respond to requests for comment, and none of the four officers had attorneys listed in court records as of Monday.

The cases land while BPD operates under a federal consent decree that mandates proportional force, mandatory de-escalation training, and full body-worn camera documentation of use-of-force encounters. BPD updated its body-worn camera policy as recently as November 2025. The volume of accountability concerns those reforms are meant to address remains significant: Baltimore residents filed 2,269 misconduct complaints against BPD officers in 2024, a figure presented at a recent city council hearing.

For anyone tracking these cases, an indictment means prosecutors secured grand jury approval to proceed. Arraignment comes next, followed by either plea negotiations or trial. BPD's Public Integrity Bureau can pursue internal discipline on a separate, parallel timeline from any criminal proceeding.

To file a misconduct complaint, submit one through the BPD Public Portal at baltimorepolice.org or contact the Public Integrity Bureau directly.