‘Get the F–k Off Her!’: Black Cop Fired After Refusing to Arrest Man Legally Filming His Mother’s Arrest — Now He’s Fighting Back
A Black police officer from Maryland says he was fired from the Prince George’s County Police Department in retaliation after he refused to arrest a Black man for recording the violent arrest of his mother, who was being abused for flipping off a white cop in 2019. Mohamed Magassouba, who was fired in 2021 and is now the police chief of the nearby Capitol Heights Police Department, filed a lawsuit against several Prince George’s County police officers in 2023, alleging racial discrimination and creating a hostile work environment for the African immigrant. The trial began this week and may set a precedent for police accountability, his attorneys told WUSA-9. "They tried to coerce him into changing his witness statement that he made that night, to justify the use of force that is reflected in the video, to protect the white officer. He refused to do so, he chose integrity over institutional loyalty,” his attorney, Jordan Howlette, told WUSA-9. Mohamed Magassouba is now chief of the Capital Heights Police Department in Maryland after he was fired from the Prince George's County Police Department, which a lawsuit claims was done in retaliation for refusing to unlawfully arrest a Black man for recording the brutal arrest of his mother. (Photo: Capitol Heights Police Department) The lawsuit states that the Prince George’s County Police Department has a long history of racial profiling against citizens and racial discrimination against Black police officers. In 2020, the county issued a $20 million settlement to the family of a Black man killed by Prince George's County police officers. And in 2022, the department issued a $400,000 settlement to the family of a Black police officer who was in plainclothes when he was killed by a white fellow cop in what was described as "friendly fire." According to the lawsuit: Despite his years of stellar service and performance within the PGCPD, Officer Magassouba’s troubles began when he refused to lie to protect a white police officer who used an unjustified amount of force during an unlawful arrest of a civilian of color—specifically, a Black female who was simply walking home from the store one night with her son. The son recorded the unfortunate encounter with his cellphone, a copy of which was later posted online to the DMV Black Lives Matter Twitter page. Named in the lawsuit are Prince George’s County police officers Angela Lane, Jeffrey W. Walden, Sunny A. Mrotek, Robbie W. Lovely and Shawne J. Waddy as well as Prince George’s County itself. Watch the video below: ‘Get the F-ck Off Her’ The initial incident took place on January 23, 2019, after Magassouba was the first officer to respond to a call from a mother, complaining that two Black males dressed in black were following her daughter outside their residence. Magassouba, who had been working for the police department since 2010, began driving around the neighborhood, looking for the two men, coming across the Black mother and son walking down the street, who were also dressed in black. The claim states that Magassouba did not stop them because they did not appear suspicious to him, so he continued driving, looking for the two males in question. The mother had just gotten off work and was walking back home with her son. Neither were doing anything that gave police a reasonable suspicion they had committed a crime, the claim states. Meanwhile, Prince George’s County police officer Justin Loewke, the second officer to arrive, who happens to be white, spotted the mother and son and found them to be suspicious, pulling up next to them to get a closer look. The mother apparently flipped the cop off — which numerous courts have ruled is protected by the First Amendment — but the cop took it personally and stepped out of the car to confront the mother. The claim states that Loewke began walking toward the mother to arrest her, pressing a red button on his radio to call for backup. He then shoved the Black woman to the ground and pointed his taser at her son after he began complaining. Magassouba was the first to arrive on the scene, spotting Loewke on top of the woman while threatening to taser her son, so he walked up to the son and stood in front of him to keep him from interfering with the arrest. But Magassouba made no attempt to stop the son from recording — proving he understood the law — but that infuriated Loewke and the other cops who had arrived and were piling on top of the mother. One cop can be heard telling the son to place his hands behind his back so Magassouba could arrest him, even though the Black cop expressed no desire to arrest him. “Get the f_ck off her!” the son is saying as he records with Magassouba calmly standing in front of him, not taking anything personally. “All you all are going to go down.” According to the claim: The Black female had just finished her shift at work, and she was walking to and from the store with her son when Officer Loewke shoved her to the ground and placed her under arrest. Officer Loewke did not have reasonable suspicion to stop the Black female, nor did he have probable cause to arrest her. Officer Loweke’s escalation of force during the incident was unlawful. Officer Loewke arrested the Black female and transported her to Upper Marlboro Corrections for processing. The female was charged with disorderly conduct, trespassing, and hindering an arrest. Officer Loewke did not have probable cause to arrest the Black female. Upon information and belief, Officer Loewke falsified the charges against the Black female to cover up the unlawfulness of the arrest and the unlawfulness of his use of force. From Termination to Police Chief A few days later, Magassouba was asked by his supervisor to fill out a witness statement, which he did. However, the son who recorded the incident published his video to social media on Jan. 30, 2019, where it went viral. The retaliation against Magassouba began a few days later when several commanding officers confronted him about not arresting the son, blaming him for the negative publicity the department had been receiving because of the viral video – rather than blaming Loewke for making an unlawful arrest after his ego had been hurt by the mother’s middle finger. During the encounter, Defendant Loveday questioned Officer Magassouba about his reasons for not arresting the Black female’s son. In response, Officer Magassouba said he did not have authority to arrest the son. Defendant Loveday barked at the response and told Officer Magassouba that all the issues arising from Viral Video could have been quashed if he had just simply arrested the son. Defendant Loveday told Officer Magassouba that he was directly responsible for all the negative publicity and chaos coming into the PGCPD as a result of the Viral Video. Officer Magassouba again asked Defendant Loveday to identify the appropriate charge or authority that would have allowed him to arrest the son. In response, Defendant Loveday said, “disorderly conduct.” Officer Magassouba reminded Defendant Loveday that (i) the incident occurred at 1:00 a.m. outside of a church, (ii) no one else was in the area, and (iii) an individual cannot commit disorderly conduct against a law enforcement officer. Defendant Loveday then asked Officer Magassouba to explain why he did not arrest the son for hindering an arrest. In response, Officer Magassouba said, “what, for hindering his own arrest?” Defendant Loveday ordered Officer Magassouba to leave the office. If the lawsuit is to be believed, Magassouba is a rarity among cops, placing the constitution over the Blue Wall of Silence, which is almost guaranteed to result in retaliation. The lawsuit states that Magassouba faced retaliation and discrimination over the next two years before he was fired, being denied overtime and time off as well as disciplined for minor infractions that were overlooked when committed by other officers. They would also make disparaging remarks about his African heritage. Defendants manufactured the charges filed against Officer Magassouba in a malicious effort to terminate his employment, which they succeeded in doing. Over the course of nearly 30 months immediately prior to his termination, Defendants unlawfully targeted Officer Magassouba with a parade of adverse employment actions and subjected him to a toxic and hostile work environment, all because Officer Magassouba would not lie to protect a white officer who unlawfully assaulted, detained, and arrested a Black female civilian in January 2019. He was fired from the Prince George’s County Police Department on Aug. 14, 2021, and began working for the Capital Heights Police Department in February 2022. Earlier this year, he was promoted to police chief, where he appears to have been well-received by the department and community, judging by the department's Facebook page. "He didn't give up, and about seven months later, in February of 2022, he joined the Capitol Heights Police Department,” Howlette, his attorney, told local media. “And this year, just to underscore who he is as a person, he was named chief of police of that department.”
