He claimed his firing was illegal, and Maryland’s highest court agreed. Yet when Baltimore’s former top cop Kevin Clark was asked if he felt vindicated by Thursday’s ruling that his firing by then-Mayor Martin O’Malley was illegal, the highly decorated former commissioner said a legal opinion couldn’t heal his wounds.

“I feel deep scars from this entire incident,” Clark said. “My whole career was taken away from me. I’ll never be the same person again.”

The former New York Police Department narcotics cop, picked by O’Malley to succeed fellow New Yorker Ed Norris as commissioner in 2003, said the pain of losing a reputation built over a lifetime is still strong.

“I was humiliated, embarrassed, and to add insult to injury, even after I left, I was called a terrorist, an extortionist and a liar,” Clark said.

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“It feels like a hollow victory.”

Now Clark works as a private security consultant in New York, unable to find police work. His days are spent patrolling dangerous neighborhoods like Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant — a far cry from serving as Baltimore’s top commander.

Clark always has insisted he wanted to return to his post — a claim met with skepticism.

But more than three years since he was escorted out of headquarters by SWAT team, Clark said he was determined to return.

“It’d be good for my career,” Clark said. “I came in here with great credentials and got into a situation that basically ended my career in an embarrassing and humiliating way.”

On Thursday, Maryland’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled that O’Malley illegally fired Clark in 2004, sending his $120 million lawsuit to Baltimore City Circuit Court, where Clark will seek damages and reinstatement.

When questioned whether his return would be good for Baltimore, Clark responded: “What would be bad for the city?”

“Some of the people who are in some of these positions — I put them there,” Clark said. “They’re following the same philosophies that Eddie Norris started and that I followed through on.”

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com