BALTIMORE (WBFF) — A suspended Baltimore police officer accused of trying to kill a civilian returned to the witness stand Tuesday as his bench trial continued in Baltimore City Circuit Court.
The case against Officer Robert Parks stems from a viral cell phone video that surfaced last fall showing him chasing a man with his patrol vehicle in North Baltimore on Oct. 28, 2025.
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The video can be found above. ***Viewer discretion is advised***
Parks, a 32-year-old and five-year veteran of the department, is charged with second-degree attempted murder, assault and misconduct in office.
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Day two of the trial opened with prosecutors cross-examining Parks, who was the defense’s first witness called to the stand Monday.
The state challenged Parks’ testimony that he believed the man he pursued was showing signs of being armed and that this belief drove his actions during the chase, which has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.
During cross-examination, prosecutors pressed Parks on why he did not alert anyone during the pursuit that he believed there was a safety concern. “You didn’t once tell another human being there was a safety concern until after you wiped out your vehicle,” the prosecutor said.
Parks again maintained that his patrol vehicle never made contact with the man during the pursuit. “I never struck him in the first place,” Parks testified. He later added, “I didn’t come close to striking him.”
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Parks previously testified that he went to Wylie Liquours after officers monitoring CitiWatch cameras contacted him and said they had spotted a man with an open warrant. Parks said that after arriving, he asked a group in front of the liquor store to clear as a tactic to safely take the man into custody, then attempted to call the man over. The man walked away, prompting the pursuit that ended with Parks crashing his patrol vehicle into a fence.
The man was not taken into custody that day, and no weapon was recovered. Parks later wrote in a crash report entered into evidence that the man was showing signs of being armed, a claim prosecutors continued to scrutinize Tuesday while also questioning Parks at length about departmental policy and use of force.
The trial was continuing Tuesday with questioning and closing arguments. Because it is a bench trial, there is no jury; a judge will decide the outcome.
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