When senior electrical engineering major Ben Winter took his new camera out for a trial run on March 3, he never anticipated capturing a moment on film that would spur an internal and federal investigation into the Prince George’s County Police Department a month later — but it did.
So far, two officers have been suspended: The first, Officer Sean McAleavey, was suspended Monday, just hours after Winter’s video made national news, and an unidentified sergeant was suspended Tuesday evening. The footage, a roughly 30-second clip from Winter’s nine-minute-long documentary of the March 4 riot, began circulating Monday after charges against two students — 21-year-old junior John McKenna and 19-year-old sophomore Ben Donat — were dropped. In the clip, Winter captures county police officers beating McKenna with their batons. County police spokesman Maj. Andrew Ellis said police officials think they have identified all the officers involved in the beating but declined to specify if the suspended sergeant was one of those caught on tape.
“Criminal charges are a real possibility,” Ellis said.
Winter, a student filmmaker, said he feels gratified knowing his footage — which he took partly from the window of his Commons 3 apartment — is being used to aid an investigation into brutality against students.
“P.G. County Police clearly have a history of brutality and misconduct, and I think anyone who thinks that this video is going to solve all those problems is kind of missing the forest for the trees,” he said. “This is an event that will likely be repeated if something serious and permanent is not instituted.”
At the start of the riot, Winter said his only thought was how great an opportunity the mounting mayhem would be to break in his new camera.
Two days after the riot, he posted the video on YouTube and was almost immediately contacted by private investigator Sharon Weidenfeld, who was working on McKenna’s and Donat’s cases. Weidenfeld then turned the footage over to McKenna’s attorney, Chris Griffiths.
Although the 30-second piece zeroing in on McKenna has made prime-time newscasts across the country, the full version of Winter’s original video is still online. In the video, Winter leads viewers through the night’s events, starting with students beginning to file into the middle of Route 1 and cheering the Terps with chants like, “Let’s go Terps!” and, “F— Duke!” During the first two minutes, Winter shows students cheering, uprooting a street sign and one student climbing a traffic light post.
At about the 2:30 mark, Winter directs the camera at himself and says, “The riot police are here.”
Soon after, an officer, not dressed in riot gear, addresses Winter and says, “Back up, back up, please, please. You can zoom in.” Throughout the rest of the video, officers are not as forgiving to students.
At around five minutes into the footage, a man in a backwards-facing yellow hat is shown walking away from officers while gesturing with his hands. One officer grabs him by his jacket collar and drags him under a pile of police officers.
About a minute later, Winter captures what appears to be a student being shoved to the ground and then hobbling away from officers after losing a shoe.
It is not until the last minute of his edited-down footage on YouTube that Winter cuts to police beating McKenna.
“I saw a scuffle, and I immediately pointed my lens at it, but it wasn’t until after I reviewed the footage … that the reality of what was going on sunk in,” he said. “I was incensed the first time that I really watched it.”
Despite the national attention his documentary has received, Winter said he hasn’t really had time to consider what that might mean for his career.
“Well I’m a filmmaker; I’m not a documentarian,” he said. “This experience hasn’t really … I don’t know; I’d have to think about it. It’s all happened pretty quickly.”
Winter’s other projects, which can be seen on www.frozenphoenixproductions.com, have primarily garnered local recognition. His celebration of Edgar Allan Poe, “The Casket of Lady Rowena”, was featured at the Baltimore Museum of Art. He won sound design and audience choice awards for his entry, “League of Zeroes”, to the Baltimore 48 Hour Film Project.
The riot footage has even caught the attention of university President Dan Mote.
Mote issued a statement yesterday saying, throughout the riot fiasco, student safety remained his primary concern. He also expressed appreciation for those authorities investigating the matter.
“The safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty and staff have always been our highest priority,” Mote said in a e-mailed statement yesterday. “The events that followed the March 3, 2010 basketball game raise concerns for us and require a thorough investigation. I applaud Prince George’s County Police Chief Roberto Hylton for carrying this investigation forward.”
For Winter’s friends, it isn’t surprising that his video has caused everyone to revisit the matter. Senior electrical engineering major Ilia Kobrinsky, a friend of Winter who saw the video before it became nationally famous, said he expected the student filmmaker to find success, one way or the other.
“That guy has a lot of talent,” Kobrinsky said. “I’m not surprised that a movie of Ben’s made it to national news. In fact, I’m expecting something [like this] from a guy like that.”
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