Subject and Former Maryland Officer Charged with Assault Had a History

A Baltimore police officer who resigned over the weekend following a violent confrontation with a subject — and was subsequently charged with first- and second-degree assault — reportedly had a history with the man, according to the Baltimore Sun .

A widely circulated video showed Officer Arthur Williams repeatedly striking 26-year-old Dashawn McGrier with his fists and knee and taking him to the ground in front of an East Baltimore rowhouse on Saturday. But that was reportedly not the first altercation between Williams and McGrier.

The Sun reported that their hostility began months ago, "when McGrier encouraged children who he said were harassed by Williams to alert their parents to the officer’s behavior," the Sun said.

Subsequent to that, Williams was attempting to cite a woman for smoking marijuana "when McGrier grabbed her hand-rolled cigar and tried to run away, Williams wrote in charging documents," the Sun said.

Williams reportedly wrote in his report that McGrier "took a fighting stance" and attempted to incite the surrounding crowd to attack him.

"Mr. McGrier stated several times that he would kill this officer once he was released from prison," Williams wrote in his report.

Williams had been with the department since May 2017.