Was Romany Malco a Victim of Police Misconduct?
Last night, Romany Malco…an actor from ABC’s “No Ordinary Family”…was pulled over by the Hawthorne Police Department. At the time of the stop, Malco didn’t know why he was being detained…or why the officer approached him with her gun already drawn. Thinking that he was about to be the victim of police misconduct, Malco began taping the incident on his phone.
It turns out that Malco…an African-American man…had just pulled out of a parking lot where it was reported that three black males who were suspected of casing a T-Mobile store had just fled from when a security guard approached them.
Malco was ultimately released without being cited.
The Hawthorne Police Department believes that the investigating officer acted appropriately. Malco claims he will only sue for police misconduct if he feels he was treated unfairly.
Under these types of circumstances, it is unlikely that this officer would be guilty of police misconduct. Police misconduct involves intentionally using excessive force, lying or fabricating evidence, or improperly using a weapon. The facts as we know them in this case don’t seem to rise to that level.
