In the midst of social and political upheaval in Baltimore, retired police officer and US Marine Corps veteran Michael A. Wood Jr. turned to Twitter on Wednesday to share stories of all the awful shit he claims to have witnessed as a local cop. Apparently, Wood decided to tell his story after he "virtually begged local media to give [him] a voice." Wood previously spoke out about his time in the force during a radio interview. A spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department confirmed to the Huffington Post that Wood was a former officer who retired last year.

"What's really hard to convey is that some things are so common place," Wood wrote, "[that] they didn't register until I was on the other side."

Read a selection of his tweets below.

So here we go. I'm going to start Tweeting the things I've seen & participated in, in policing that is corrupt, intentional or not.
— Michael A. Wood Jr. (@MichaelAWoodJr) June 24, 2015

A detective slapping a completely innocent female in the face for bumping into him, coming out of a corner chicken store.
— Michael A. Wood Jr. (@MichaelAWoodJr) June 24, 2015

Punting a handcuffed, face down, suspect in the face, after a foot chase. My handcuffs, not my boot or suspect
— Michael A. Wood Jr. (@MichaelAWoodJr) June 24, 2015

CCTV cameras turning as soon as a suspect is close to caught.
— Michael A. Wood Jr. (@MichaelAWoodJr) June 24, 2015

Pissing and shitting inside suspects homes during raids, on their beds and clothes.
— Michael A. Wood Jr. (@MichaelAWoodJr) June 24, 2015

Jacking up and illegally searching thousands of people with no legal justification
— Michael A. Wood Jr. (@MichaelAWoodJr) June 24, 2015

Summonsing officers who weren't there so they could collect the overtime.
— Michael A. Wood Jr. (@MichaelAWoodJr) June 24, 2015

Targeting 16-24 year old black males essentially because we arrest them more, perpetrating the circle of arresting them more.
— Michael A. Wood Jr. (@MichaelAWoodJr) June 24, 2015

These things happen(ed), now how do we fix it? We need police. Let's figure out how to do it right. The starting line is marked "Empathy"
— Michael A. Wood Jr. (@MichaelAWoodJr) June 24, 2015

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