Baltimore police are investigating why on-duty marine and helicopter officers helped a state legislator propose to his girlfriend by pretending to raid a boat the couple were aboard, the Baltimore Sun reports. Officers boarded the boat, owned by a friend of Delegate Jon Cardin, a nephew of U.S. Sen Benjamin Cardin, on Aug. 7. As the helicopter hovered overhead, adding to the sense of tension, officers pretended to search the vessel and had the woman thinking she was about to be handcuffed before the delegate got on one knee and proposed. She said “yes.”
Police are investigating what appears to be a misuse of police resources at a time when the budget-strapped department is begging for private donations to keep its horseback unit running and is immersed in investigating a double shooting at the tourist area called Harborplace over the weekend. “Definitely there was some poor judgment exercised by some officers,” said Anthony Guglielmi, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. “The Police Department is not in the business of renting out the helicopter and the boats for bachelor parties and birthdays. We’re in the business of upholding public safety in Baltimore.”