ALL Charges Dropped Against Dad Who Was Arrested After Speaking Out Against Common Core at Public Meeting

The Baltimore County State's Attorney is reportedly dropping all charges against Robert Small, the Maryland parent who was arrested after speaking out against Common Core at a public meeting last week.

Small was forcibly removed from the public forum in Towson, Md., and charged with second degree assault of a police officer and disturbing a school operation. If convicted, he faced more than 10 years in jail.

State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger told WBAL Radio that it was "clear that Mr. Small violated the rules of the meeting and disrupted the meeting." Further, Shellenberger defended the arrest and resulting charges.

"It was also clear that the Officer acted appropriately and did have probable cause to make an arrest on both charges," he added. "The Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office has just received and reviewed the facts of this case. In the interest of justice, further prosecution will not accomplish anything more. Therefore, the charges have been dismissed."

The police officer involved in the incident was off duty and working as a security officer for the event. He apparently intervened at the request of Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Dr. S. Dallas Dance's chief of staff.

Dance issued a short statement on the public meeting on Common Core State Standards, hosted by the Maryland State Department of Education. However, he failed to even mention the fact that Small was removed and arrested.

In the statement, obtained by WBAL, Dance said:

We appreciate the Maryland State Department of Education for holding a Common Core State Standards Townhall meeting in Baltimore County last week.  Excellent questions were asked and answered that evening. Questions that were not answered due to time constraints will be addressed.  We will post the questions and answers on our website by the end of the week.

The meeting helped us realize that we must do a better job of communicating what the Common Core is and what it is not.  We have to ensure that our parents and community members understand that the Common Core allows us to implement our own curriculum, written by us, for us. This gives us the flexibility to ensure that we are meeting the needs specific to our children in Baltimore County.

Video of Small's outburst against Common Core has since gone viral. Watch the full video here:

As previously reported by TheBlaze, the incident took place at Ridge Ruxton School in Towson, Md., on Thursday night. When Small, 46, stood up and demanded answers to his concerns about Common Core, the off-duty police officer working as a security guard forcibly removed him from the auditorium.

"Don't stand for this," he told parents as he was taken out of the meeting. "You are sitting here like cattle! Is this America?"

(YouTube)

"WBAL's Jimmy Mathis, who attended the meeting said no one in the audience saw Small shove the officer. He did say officials asked members of the audience to submit written questions to the panel of officials, and questions were not going to be taken in the audience," the report adds.

Small was no longer commenting on the matter on the advice of his attorney.

–

[related]