A Baltimore police detective who shot and critically wounded a man in northeast Baltimore last month had 14 pending misconduct complaints and a documented history of rule violations, according to police records obtained by a local newspaper. Detective Phil Polanco, a seven-year veteran of the department, remained on patrol despite that record right up until the October 22 shooting near Erdman Shopping Center.
The Maryland Office of the Attorney General identified Polanco as the officer involved, according to CBS News Baltimore. Authorities said the man Polanco shot allegedly pointed a gun at him before Polanco fired and struck him. The Independent Investigations Division of the Maryland Attorney General's Office is now investigating the shooting, the outlet reported.
Polanco's disciplinary history has drawn fresh scrutiny in the aftermath. The Baltimore Sun reported that he has 14 pending misconduct complaints and a history of findings that he violated department rules. Baltimore police spokeswoman Lindsey Eldridge confirmed that history, saying it included findings that Polanco violated department rules, per the same report.
Resolved Cases Flagged Repeated Rule Violations
In previously resolved cases, the department found that Polanco neglected his duty, failed to operate his body-worn camera, made inappropriate comments or gestures, engaged in unbecoming conduct, and failed to appear in court, according to the Sun's reporting. Of the 14 pending complaints against him, the department classified 12 as external and two as internal, though it has not disclosed the nature of those complaints.
Eldridge said department policy and state law allowed Polanco to keep working despite the pending cases, the newspaper's account states. She did not explain what circumstances would have required his removal from patrol, nor would she say whether commanders had considered reassigning him. Under Maryland law, a police chief or designee may suspend an officer without pay and strip police powers on an emergency basis only if the officer is charged with a disqualifying crime, a misdemeanor committed in the performance of police duties, or a misdemeanor involving dishonesty, fraud, theft or misrepresentation — permissive language that does not mandate suspension in every case, according to the Maryland General Assembly.
A 2024 Arrest Drew Similar Complaints
This is not the first time Polanco's conduct has come under public scrutiny. In a May 2024 arrest in Baltimore's Broadway East neighborhood, Polanco tackled a man named Jaemaun Joyner who was fleeing officers, according to Baltimore Magazine. Joyner did not match the description of an armed-robbery suspect police were searching for, and the robbery victim told officers at the scene that Joyner was not the person who had robbed him, the magazine reported.
Body-camera footage showed another detective gripping Joyner by the throat and holding a gun to his head for seven seconds while officers restrained him, according to The Baltimore Banner. Polanco wrote the probable-cause statement in the case, stating that Joyner was reaching for the gun, but the statement made no mention that an officer had held a gun to Joyner's head, the Banner reported. Joyner's attorneys alleged excessive force over both the takedown and the way officers pinned him to the sidewalk, according to WBAL.
Accounts differ on how the case against Joyner ended. Baltimore Magazine reported that all charges were dropped by the City State's Attorney's Office after Joyner spent 54 days in jail, while WBAL reported that Joyner was told the case was dismissed for further investigation. Eldridge said the department investigated the incident and referred it to the State's Attorney's Office, but that no officers were suspended as a result, according to the Banner's report.
Part of a Larger Accountability Backlog
Polanco has worked within the department's District Action Team, an approximately 80-person plainclothes unit created in 2017 after Baltimore police disbanded the Gun Trace Task Force, according to Baltimore Magazine. His case also lands amid broader scrutiny of how the department handles officer discipline. The Sun reported in December that Baltimore Police had a backlog of more than 500 disciplinary cases in which officers accused of misconduct were still waiting to face a trial board.
The Baltimore City Office of Equity and Civil Rights and the Police Accountability Board released their Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Report in June, describing it as covering complaint intake, Administrative Charging Committee case processing, and case-outcome trends, according to the city's own announcement. The investigation into the October shooting remains active, and officials have not said whether it will produce any new disciplinary findings against Polanco.
