- Prince George police suspended an officer caught on camera taking a woman into his police car.
- The Prince George Police Department said Francesco Marlett is facing an internal investigation.
- Marlett was previously suspended in 2016 after being charged with child abuse.
A Maryland police department suspended an officer after a TikTok video showing him kissing a woman and then getting into the back of his police cruiser with her went viral.
The Prince George’s Police Department suspended Corporal Francesco Marlett’s “police powers” after it became aware of the video on Tuesday, police said in a statement.
Marlett is now facing an internal affairs investigation, according to the statement. The police department previously internally disciplined Marlett in 2016 for “administrative charges of unbecoming conduct/child abuse and unbecoming conduct/assault second-degree,” according to police.
That earlier suspension stemmed from child abuse charges Marlett was facing at the time after he was accused of knocking his three-year-old child unconscious, according to WJLA, a local ABC affiliate. The charges were later dropped and expunged from Marlett’s record, the outlet reported.
The video, which has more than 210,000 likes on TikTok, shows Marlett standing in front of the woman, appearing to kiss her, before getting into the back of the police car while children run in front of the camera excitedly.
The man who filmed the video, identified by The Baltimore Banner as Nelson O, said the two stayed inside the car for about 40 minutes, according to the outlet.
“Something didn’t seem right,” Nelson told The Banner.
“It was concerning because there’s kids around,” he added. “It just seemed off because this is the person that you’re supposed to call for suspicious activity doing the suspicious activity, you know?”
Prince George Police Chief Malik Aziz said he wants people to know he is taking the video “extremely seriously.”
“I know the officer’s actions seen on these videos have sparked a range of emotions in the community and put a negative spotlight on this agency and the many hard-working women and men who wear our uniform,” Aziz said in the statement. “I expect every officer to conduct themselves in a way that will not dishonor this agency or this county. I assure the residents of Prince George’s County I take this matter extremely seriously.”
