Sabah Ali lodged a civil suit against the Prince George’s County and Officer Hong C. Park. He alleged that Officer Park accused him of having drugs during an incident in a 7-11 parking lot on Kenilworth Avenue. Ali pulled over to see if his buddy was alright because his Black buddy had been pulled over by the police for having a non-functioning headlight; looks like that part was the truth. But, according to Ali, Officer Hong C. Park kirked out on him and started yelling, “Where’s the drugs? Where’s the drugs?” Ali told Officer Park that he had no drugs AND that he was calling police because Officer Park was freaking him out. Officer Park responded by knocking Sabah Ali’s phone out of his hand. WHAAT?!!!! The cops took Ali into custody on a false charge of disorderly conduct and then he sat and sat and sat on the floor in custody for 13 hours. Those 13 hours are now billable to Prince George’s County at about $12,308 an hour. Mr. Ali said he’s going to use the money to pay some bills and take his family on a vacation.
PGPD’s Internal Affairs conducted an investigation and found Ali’s allegations to be “unfounded.” Did they see the video?
From the Washington Post, “The manager of a Bladensburg restaurant was awarded $160,000 Wednesday in a civil suit against a Prince George’s County police officer who the manager claimed had falsely arrested and mistreated him outside a 7-Eleven convenience store in 2011, his attorney said.
Sabah Ali
Sabah Ali, 55, had Prince George’s County and Officer Hong C. Park in connection with the October 2011 incident. In an interview, Ali and his attorney, Terrell Roberts III, said Ali was talking to a friend in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven on Kenilworth Avenue about a repair order his friend had received when Park approached and accused him of engaging in drug activity. Ali, a manager at the Three Brothers restaurant in Bladensburg, said he denied the accusation and tried to call 911 because he was concerned about the officer’s behavior.
The officer, he said, slapped his phone out of his hand and eventually arrested and charged him with disorderly conduct. “I was scared because he came in on me very hard,” Ali said. “I told him: Sir, there’s no drugs. I even volunteered to give my license.” Ali, who had alleged that Park violated his constitutional rights and prosecuted him maliciously, said he was “very relieved” by the judgment in his favor. Officer Park remains on full duty with the Prince George’s County Police Department.
I’m not the police and if I was a police officer having to patrol Kenilworth/Bladensburg Avenue, I might be a bit jumpy at 1am at seeing two cars in a parking lot with people making chit-chat. I might think it was an exchange of some sort. But I’m not a police officer.
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