Baltimore cop called ‘lazy’ allegedly faked traffic stops while sitting in his car. Then he was caught ordering a smoothie

The Baltimore police commissioner, Richard Worley, just described a former officer at their precinct as a lazy cop who “wanted to collect a paycheck.” Dequwan Houchins, 30, became the subject of an undercover investigation after there was growing suspicion that he was making false traffic stop reports to work fewer hours while on duty.

According to The Guardian, one incident that featured prominently in Houchins’ indictment was when he reported that he was unavailable for a call because he was at a traffic stop. In reality, he was allegedly ordering a smoothie at a local store in Baltimore.

The mayor called his actions shameful

His unusual work patterns started to raise suspicions among his superiors in December. Fellow officers reportedly noticed that Houchins had been making false reports of traffic stops for months. Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said the case is being taken very seriously because falsifying official records for personal convenience is a serious breach of trust. Brandon Scott, Baltimore’s mayor, also chimed in and called the former officer’s actions “shameful.”

According to the indictment, Houchins was allegedly getting his now-infamous smoothie while sitting in his car and claiming to be making traffic stops. He also never filed his bodycam footage, as required by the rules of his police department.

“The bad thing is he was probably sitting doing something else when another officer needed help, and somebody else had to help him because he was too lazy to do it,” Police Commissioner Worley said. He continued, “This is bigger than one officer trying to make his numbers look good. Even the numbers that he falsified, he wasn’t a ball of fire, so he wasn’t really out there doing a whole lot of work.”

He claimed that he’s always wanted to be a police officer

Houchins, however, denied all the allegations leveled against him. In fact, he reportedly said he was unaware of the claims that he was ordering a smoothie instead of attending to his duties as a police officer. He reportedly claimed that becoming an officer was something he had aspired to since he was 18, so he wouldn’t take such a serious responsibility with the callousness he was accused of.

According to numerous reports, other Baltimore officers have also been indicted on misconduct charges in the past several months. Four other officers were not only charged with misconduct in office and filing false reports, but also with theft, forgery and assault. This has created a situation in which the city is looking for ways to address these crises as quickly as possible before the pattern grows.

He’s denying all charges

Houchins stands accused of four counts of false entry in a public record and five counts of misconduct in office. If convicted, he could face a $4,000 fine and up to 12 years behind bars. However, since he denies all charges against him, the onus is on the prosecution to prove that he prioritized a smoothie over the safety of the community he was supposed to protect.