An Anne Arundel County Police corporal and his former girlfriend, who is also an officer, were both acquitted on misdemeanor charges stemming from what both of them alleged was a domestic dispute last year.
After neither party testified during Tuesday’s joint hearing on cross-filed charges against police Cpl. Tyler Brennan and his ex-girlfriend, Anne Arundel District Judge H. Richard Duden III entered a judgment of acquittal in the assault cases, finding there was not enough evidence to convict either of them.
Police identified Brennan last year as having been involved in a domestic incident with his then-girlfriend, another county police officer who was not identified or charged by the department.
The department suspended Brennan with pay after the woman reported in December he had chest-bumped her and kept her from leaving a bedroom in his Pasadena home by blocking a closed door with his body. A county police detective charged Brennan with second-degree assault and false imprisonment.
Days later, Brennan filed second-degree assault and destruction of property charges against the woman, alleging in a handwritten charges application that she had grabbed him, kneed him and threw his keys at a wall.
Neither were found guilty at this week’s joint hearing after they both invoked their right as defendants not to testify.
A police spokeswoman said Wednesday an internal investigation on the incident is still active, and that both of the officers are suspended with pay, meaning they “are working in administrative roles with no police powers.”
Brennan was placed on administrative leave, and later returned to his patrol duties, after police officials said he fatally shot 79-year-old Leonard Popa, Sr. during a mental health check in the Bayside Beach neighborhood in Pasadena.
Prosecutors concluded late last year that the shooting was justified as Brennan “had a reasonable belief that his life was in danger and that he acted in self-defense when he shot Mr. Popa,” recommending no criminal charges.
The March 2021 incident happened before Anne Arundel officers started using body cameras, and before a new state law took effect changing who investigates deadly uses of force by police.
In a Dec. 21 letter, Deputy State’s Attorney Brian Marsh wrote that police had been dispatched to Popa’s home after a healthcare worker reported that during a phone call Popa made suicidal statements, which he repeated later when police arrived at his home and found him on his bed. Evidence showed that Popa reached for a handgun and grabbed it as police warned him not to do so, and “raised it in a direction in a manner that caused Ofc. Brennan to fear for his life,” prompting him to fire two shots at Popa, Marsh wrote.
