CHARGES AGAINST OFFICER STIR NEW CLAIMS OF ABUSE ON STREET In Drug-Hit Areas, Few Seem Surprised Virginia Johnson walked along Presstman Street on a crisp fall morning yesterday, trying to satisfy her drug habit, ever vigilant for an opportunity -- or for trouble. The 49-year-old watches for the police officers she knows by nickname, Super Cop and Creeper. And she knows the unwritten code of the street: Don't be anywhere near an officer when a hidden stash of cocaine or heroin is discovered. "If you're in the area and they find drugs, it's yours," Johnson said. "That's the way it works. Whoever is closest gets the charge." Hardly anyone interviewed yesterday in the Druid Heights and Upton neighborhoods was surprised by last week's arrest of Officer Brian L. Sewell on charges that he falsely arrested a man for drug possession on Presstman Street. "If I'm dirty, I'll take the charge," said Derrick Wright, 37, an acknowledged drug addict who said he was arrested three months ago, but never possessed the 28 heroin pills an officer claimed to have found in his pocket. "I didn't think the cops could be so crooked." The case against Sewell has potentially far-reaching implications for the Baltimore Po-lice Department. Top police officials held a news conference last week after Sewell was indicted on misconduct in office and perjury charges and lauded themselves for coming clean with potential wrongdoing. In so doing, they opened themselves up to stinging criticism that corruption runs deep. Criminal suspects, most of whom have lengthy criminal records and little credibility when it comes to complaints, are finding new legitimacy for their claims of abuse. Cases Being Researched Prosecutors said they will throw out any case in which Sewell was the primary arresting officer. The Baltimore public defender's office is researching six years' worth of Sewell's cases and looking at other officers as well. And lawyers are coming forward with complaints about other cases. Sewell is charged with arresting a man he said he saw place drugs on a park bench. Undercover officers said they put the drugs there as part of a random corruption sting. Police commanders are concerned about the possibility of other problem officers. Asked at the news conference how many others might be committing similar misdeeds, Commissioner Edward T. Norris answered: "I don't know where it's going to take us." Individual complaints, however, are difficult to sort out. Many drug cases end with only two people who know what really happened: the suspect and the police officer. "All those type of cases rely on the testimony and integrity of the officers," said Maj. Steven McMahon, who commands the Central District and is Sewell's boss. Honest Officers Hurt Police commanders are quick to say that the vast majority of officers on the 3,200-member force are honest, and that months of random integrity tests have resulted in only one alleged failure. But they also concede that an arrest of one of their own makes it hard for honest officers to do their jobs. "Anytime you have an allegation of somebody doing something wrong, it's going to be assumed there are others out there doing it too" McMahon said. "It brings discredit on all of the good, hard-working officers." The neighborhoods around Presstman Street are top priorities for police struggling to curtail crime and drugs. St. Katherine Memorial Park, where Sewell found the drugs police say were left by Internal Affairs, is littered with trash. Johnson walked by the park and pointed to the drug dealers who had set up shop in a public square three blocks away, where Fremont Avenue meets Pennsylvania Avenue. Walls of nearby rowhouses are spray painted with the names of the dead victims of the city's drug trade: T-Kelly; Travis; Mont. There is a symbiotic relationship between police and dealers, who work hard to exploit each other's weaknesses. The dealers even have given police nicknames. Creeper can sneak up on anybody without making a noise; Super Cop makes a lot of arrests; King is arrogant; Big Dirty implies corrupt. Raymond Smith, 70, lives across from the park in the last rowhouse remaining on his side of Presstman Street. The city demolished the rest after a drug dealer burned one down and a teen-ager was shot and killed. Smith, who has lived there for 15 years, said that whatever police are doing, "it's 100 percent better than it was. They were selling drugs even on Sundays when church was in service. Now I can sleep at night." Sewell arrested Raymond Vernon Banks, 31, on Sept. 2 near Wilmer Court, just off Pennsylvania Avenue, and charged him with drugs found stashed behind a brick wall. He wrote in his report that he saw Banks get drugs from a woman and then hide them near the wall and cover them with dirt. Banks spent more than a month in Central Booking. On Friday, the date of his preliminary hearing, the state's attorney dropped all charges against him, pointing to Sewell's inability to testify because he is under indictment. Civil Suit Planned Banks' lawyer, Jamal L. McFadden, said he is planning a civil suit against the city claiming false arrest and that his client -- who has a criminal history that includes convictions on burglary, breaking and entering and assault -- was hit and kicked during his arrest. "My client has maintained his innocence from the beginning," McFadden said. Attorney Margaret A. Mead said her client, Tyrice Caldwell, 21, was wrongfully arrested by Sewell. The officer wrote in his report that he saw Caldwell sell drugs to three people in the 700 block of Mosher St. on July 15. Sewell wrote that he chased Caldwell for two blocks before catching him and finding a bag with 49 gel caps of heroin in his right front pants pocket. Mead said her client had just left a barbershop, had no money when arrested, and can't run because of a physical disability. But Sewell is not the only arresting officer in this case. His partner is listed in the report as witnessing the alleged drug transaction, and four officers are listed as chasing Caldwell. Officer John Pessia said in an interview that he was one of them, and he saw drugs being pulled from the man's pocket. Sewell has declined to comment about his situation. His lawyer, Henry L. Belsky, has decried the use of the undercover sting and said his client has a legitimate defense. Belsky has not elaborated. The police union president, Officer Gary McLhinney, said he is not surprised that defense lawyers "are jumping on the bandwagon" to fault police. "These lawyers need to try their cases based on the merit of their individual case," the union president said, adding that lawyers are trying to divert blame. "There aren't too many admitted drug dealers in the penitentiary. Most of them deny their guilt and try to find a loophole to get off."
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