MONTGOMERY COURTS
Judge's Seizure of Officer's Cellphone Leads to Lawsuit, Letter
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Saturday, October 21, 2006
Presiding over a traffic docket recently, Montgomery County District Court Judge Brian G. Kim ordered his bailiff to confiscate a cellphone.
It wasn't just any cellphone. It belonged to a Montgomery County police officer. And its seizure has become the latest flare-up in the simmering feud between the judge and police.
The confiscation -- the phone was returned a week later -- prompted the officer to file a lawsuit against the judge and led Police Chief J. Thomas Manger to write a letter to Kim's superior asking what right the judge had to seize the phone.
"In this particular case, I'm not aware of what authority the judge had to do what he did," Manger said in an interview. "If he had no authority, obviously I would have great concern about his actions."
The incident marked the first time that a Montgomery police officer has had a phone confiscated in District Court, said Assistant Police Chief John King, who supervises patrol officers.
"In no way was this guy trying to be disrespectful," King said of the officer.
A Maryland judiciary official said Kim would not comment on the case because it involves a pending lawsuit.
The rocky relationship between Kim and county officers is well known in Rockville's legal circle. Manger and King have met with the judge in the past to discuss some of the approaches Kim has taken to admonish officers who fail to appear for court.
King said several officers believe that Kim has sought to embarrass them publicly without a valid reason.
The phone was taken about 11 a.m. Oct. 10, as Officer Philip Ragan, at the direction of a prosecutor, started to leave the courtroom to call a witness.
"At the time of the taking, [Ragan] was not using the phone, and had merely removed the phone from his belt in preparation to make a call outside of the courtroom," according to the Oct. 11 complaint the officer filed against Kim.
As Ragan was walking toward the door, he flipped his phone open. Kim ordered him to stop, instructed him to hand over the phone and told the officer he could have it back the following Monday, King said.
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