Photo released of suspect involved in York Rd incident

37 year-old Theodore Smith is the man a Baltimore officer approached outside a carryout on York Road early Saturday morning.

Smith was the target for the northern district officer that night, not Dameatrice Moore.

"I walked from the door out to the tree and watching him [the officer] up against the wall, then pulling his gun out and shooting.  That's all I seen," said Moore.

What Moore felt was a bullet from the officer's gun.

The 20 year-old who made his way home from downtown that night stopped at the carryout to get a bite when he heard the commotion of Smith and the officer fighting.

When Smith had the officer pinned up against the wall is when Moore said the patrolman pulled out his weapon and seemingly shot it into a crowd of onlookers.

"He wasn't intending to shoot me but he intended to shoot someone.  Maybe the guy that had him or something because you're not going to pull your gun out, squeeze your trigger and expect not to shoot nobody," said Moore.

Baltimore city police say while that is Moore's account, it is all still under investigation.

They say their officer with more than 10 years on the job approached Smith in an attempt to scatter a crowd, asked for ID and then Smith attacked.

It is unclear how the gun was fired, if Smith was reaching for it or if it went off in the struggle.

"These are very chaotic and dynamic situations.  There are a lot of moving parts.  You get people moving around, gunfire, you have an officer attacked.  You have a lot of evidence you need to comb over," said police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi.

But Moore says he got a good enough view from the line of fire and questions how police handled the situation in the first place.

"First of all, you shoulda called back up before you shot.  There is already a big crowd, what makes you think you can apprehend one person in a crowd.  Of course everyone is gonna get rowdy," said Moore.

Crowd control was exactly one of the main reforms made in the department in the wake of Officer William Torbit being shot outside the Club Select Lounge two years ago.

 The new protocol is very specific about how officers should handle a potentially rowdy crowd and police say that will be examined here.

Meanwhile, Smith is now charged with assault of that officer and resisting arrest.  The officer is on routine administrative leave.

BACKGROUND | Two shot as officer tries to disperse crowd