Panhandling Under Scrutiny After Baltimore Homicide

BALTIMORE, MD — After police said a Harford County woman was stabbed to death giving to a panhandler, city officials and those close to the victim are calling for change. From the mayor to the victim's husband to the interim police commissioner, here is what they have to say.

Jacquelyn Smith, 54, was riding in a vehicle in the 1000 block of Valley Street in east Baltimore when she rolled down her window to give money to a woman holding a sign that said: "Please help me feed my baby," according to police. Authorities said the panhandler was holding a baby or an object wrapped to look like a baby.

A man approached the vehicle appearing to thank Smith and instead reached inside and tried to grab her wallet, officials reported. They struggled, and the man stabbed Smith in the torso with a knife, police allege. The man and woman ran away, and Smith was rushed to a local hospital, where she died, according to authorities.

Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle joined officers in canvassing East Chase Street at Valley Street on Monday afternoon near where the stabbing occurred. Police said the fatal encounter happened around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 1.

Here is a view of the block on Valley Street on Monday Dec. 3:

Tuggle cautioned people about the danger of interacting with those begging for money, calling their activity a "ruse," according to The Baltimore Sun. "Not all of them have real need," Tuggle reportedly said.

Police want to "caution the public about engaging with panhandlers," he added.

The mayor reportedly agreed with the sentiment.

"This is unconscionable. One life lost is one life too many," Mayor Catherine Pugh told WJZ at an event over the weekend.

According to the news station, she urged people not to put down their windows for panhandlers, stating: "We don't want people destroying other people's lives."

The death of Smith may inspire change.

Jacquelyn Smith's husband, Keith Smith, told reporters he had been in the car and after the suspects took his wife's necklace and purse, he told Fox 45 he chased after them but heard his wife screaming for him to return. It was when he came back that he discovered in addition to being robbed, she had been stabbed.

He has said that he hopes the laws in Baltimore can be changed so that panhandling is no longer permitted.

"Something needs to be done," he told Fox 45. "You don't know when you give if they're going to take your life or they're going to thank you."

• Aberdeen Woman Fatally Stabbed Was Engineer At APG: Report
• Harford Woman Killed Giving Money To Woman With 'Baby'

At least one councilman was skeptical.

"Maybe the ACLU will come in" if there is an attempt to restrict panhandling, Councilman Robert Stokes told The Baltimore Sun. He also noted that the federal consent decree has made police less likely to handle the activity.

The federal agreement between the city and the federal government requires the Baltimore Police Department to avoid unnecessary arrests for low-level issues like loitering or disorderly conduct. The goal is to protect the constitutional rights of all citizens.

In several cities that tried to curb panhandling, the activity has been protected as a First Amendment right.

Baltimore City attempted to curb panhandling in 2013 outside businesses and faced opposition from members of the homeless community and the ACLU.

After being sued by the ACLU in 1993, the city settled city in 1994, agreeing not to ask people to move along from a space where they were panhandling unless they were violating another valid ordinance.

'Aggressive Soliciting' Is Prohibited In Baltimore

Currently, the Baltimore city code states that "aggressive soliciting in public places" is prohibited, with public places defined as sidewalks, streets, alleys, driveways, parking lots and garages, parks, plazas, buildings, doorways and entrances to buildings, the grounds enclosing, buildings or the mall and/or adjacent parking areas of any shopping center to which the general public is invited for business purposes.

Here are the applicable sections from Baltimore City Code:

• § 47-3. Aggressive soliciting in public places prohibited.
• § 47-4. Soliciting in certain ways and places prohibited.
• § 47-5. Nighttime soliciting prohibited

"Aggressive soliciting” means soliciting which is accompanied by at least one of the following:

• approaching, speaking to or following a person in that causes a reasonable person to fear bodily harm or the commission of a criminal act upon the person or upon property
• touching another person without that person’s consent in the course of soliciting
• continuously soliciting from a person or following the person after the person has made a negative response
• intentionally blocking or interfering with the safe passage of a person or a vehicle by any means, including unreasonably causing a person to take evasive action to avoid physical contact
• using obscene or abusive language either during the course of soliciting or following a refusal
• acting with the intent of intimidating another person into giving money or another thing of value.

Soliciting is also prohibited in these places:

• Within 10 feet of any automatic teller machine (ATM)
• In any public transportation vehicle or at any bus, train, light rail, or subway station or stop
• On private property or residential property if the owner/tenant/occupant asked the person not to solicit on the property or posted a sign on the property indicating no soliciting
• From any operator or occupant of a motor vehicle that is in traffic on a public street, whether in exchange for cleaning the vehicle’s windows or otherwise
• From any operator or occupant of a motor vehicle on a public street in exchange for blocking, occupying or reserving a public parking space or directing the occupant to a public parking space

Nighttime soliciting is prohibited:

• There is no soliciting between sunset and sunrise.
• It is allowed if the person is" passively standing or sitting with a sign or other indication that one is seeking donations; and without addressing any oral or other solicitation to any specific person other than in response to an inquiry by that person."

Violating the ordinance may result in a fine of up to $100 and up to 30 days in jail or both, and if the person has been convicted of a violation of the same sort in the past year, the person may be fined up to $250 or imprisoned for up to 90 days.

SEE ALSO: Mayor To Launch $2M Program To Get 'Squeegee Boys' Off Streets

File photo of east Baltimore and Dec. 3 photo of Valley Street by Elizabeth Janney.