A Prince George’s County police officer is the subject of an investigation after video of him getting in the backseat of a cruiser with another woman went wide on social media. Prince George’s County Police Department officials released a statement regarding the situation, which is still developing.
As seen on local news outlet WTOP, Prince George’s County police shared the officer’s name, Cpl. Francesco Marlett. The department says it has launched an internal investigation into the matter but hasn’t offered any precise details to the public.
“PGPD Executive Command is aware of a video circulating on social media with one of our officers, the department shared via its @PGPDNews account on X, formerly known as Twitter. “As soon as we became aware earlier today, we opened an investigation to determine the circumstances. Additional information will be released once investigated and confirmed.”
The video in question first started to bubble on TikTok before spreading across other social media hubs. The man who took the video also spoke publicly about the matter
“I couldn’t believe what I was recording because it’s not something that you see every day, a cop going to the back of a patrol car in the uniform to do…I don’t know what,” Nelson Ochoa, the Clinton, Maryland, man who took the video, said in a statement. “It was a public park with kids running around.”
The incident occurred on Monday (Sept. 4) at a park in Oxon Hill, Md., a nearby suburb of Washington, D.C.
The outlet reached out to the Fraternal Order of Police in Prince George’s County and a union rep asked for privacy and patience on behalf of Cpl. Marlett.
“We ask that our officer be given the same consideration that any other person would ask for in that you reserve judgment until all of the facts are known and the videos are put into context,” the police union said to WTOP.
Some online have noted that police officers aren’t allowed to have civilians inside their service vehicles for reasons outside an arrest or transport.
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Photo: Anadolu Agency / Getty
