An off-duty Anne Arundel County police officer was arrested for biting a man’s testicles in a fight outside a bar on Cinco de Mayo, authorities said.
The police department said that Cpl. Michael Flaig, 31, was placed on paid administrative duty after his arrest in Baltimore on charges of second-degree assault and public intoxication on Tuesday night.
“These charges are disturbing and we have an obligation as police officers to conduct ourselves in a professional manner on and off-duty,” county police chief Timothy J. Altomare said in a statement about Flaig’s arrest.
Baltimore police said in a document about Flaig’s arrest that the victim and his two friends were in an alley behind Looney’s Pub on the 2900 block of O’Donnell Street.
The victim was speaking with one friend, then noticed that Flaig was rubbing against the second friend, the victim’s female roommate.
The victim tried to get Flaig to stop. They argued.
Then the victim turned away — he saw a woman with whom he had been having an on-and-off relationship entering another bar on the same block. She was holding another man’s hand. Upset, the man decided to go home.
Authorities said the man was walking away when he heard someone coming from behind him.
The victim turned around and saw Flaig’s fist coming toward his face, police said. He ducked and then grabbed Flaig’s arm, pulling him to the ground. The victim straddled Flaig, crouching over him near his face.
Someone else, whom police have not identified, then started punching the victim, while he was sitting on Flaig. And while that was happening, Flaig bit the victim’s testicle.
The victim let Flaig get up, police said.
According to a woman who told police she witnessed the fight, Flaig then entered a third bar on the same block, Claddagh Pub. Police found him sitting at the bar there.
He had scrapes on his elbow, stomach and hands and blood stains on his shirt when police found him. And he showed signs of being intoxicated, police said.
He told the officers who confronted him that he was an Anne Arundel police officer, and did not resist when they placed him under arrest.
Police found a scrape on the lower part of the victim’s testicle. He also suffered scrapes on his elbow, lip and both knees, police said. An emergency medical technician treated him at the scene of the assault, and he refused to go to a hospital.
