LA PLATA, Md. -- An arbiter of justice is under investigation for allegedly flaunting the law at the Charles County Courthouse Monday.
Jean Washington, a cleaning worker at the courthouse in La Plata, had just arrived to start her shift Monday afternoon when a sheriff's deputy warned her that Judge Robert C. Nalley was going to let the air out of her tire if she didn't move her car, The Washington Post reported. She went to move her 2004 Toyota Corolla, but she was too late. The right rear tire was flat.
Two jail officers said they saw Nalley do it because Washington was parked in his space on a side street, and one of the officers used a cell phone camera to capture the incident, The Post reported.
"When I actually saw that my tire was flat, I was almost in tears, and not because of the fact that the air was out of my tire," Washington told News4's Tracee Wilkins. "It was because of who did it."
A sign near the parking spot reads "Restricted Parking Only," Washington said, but she had never been told not to park there. Washington's parking routine was disrupted by construction. The space where her tire was deflated is a short walk to the courthouse, and Washington said she likes to park there because she leaves work after dark.
The jail officers asked not to be identified while the investigation continues, and La Plata Police Chief Cassin Gittings did not identify a deflation suspect as no one has been charged, according to The Post.
"We're investigating an incident where the air was let out of a lady's tires, and where the investigation is going I'm not at liberty to discuss right now because it's ongoing," Gittings told Wilkins.
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Nalley's boss is reserving comment until talking to his supervisors, Wilkins reported.
One of the officers used a pump to inflate the flat, The Post reported.
