Maryland families hope to see change as the attorney general's office reviews more than 40 deaths in police custody across the state.
Maryland families hope to see change as the attorney general's office reviews more than 40 deaths in police custody across the state. WJZ Investigates is continuing to follow a landmark audit that revealed many of the cases should have been classified as homicides but were often misclassified as accidents initially. The cases, including the deaths of Anton Black and Tyrone West in police custody, hinged on the opinion of Maryland's former chief medical examiner, Dr. David Fowler. The audit found possible pro-police and racial biases in determining why someone died when they were restrained by officers. "I'm not aware of anything this sweeping in its scope and this damning in its findings," Sonia Kumar, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, said about the audit... âŚDespite Black's family sounding the alarm since 2018, it was not until 2021, when Dr. Fowler testified for Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, that there was a push to look more closely at past cases. "Dr. Fowler's testimony in that case was really important to educating the public about what was happening in Maryland," Kumar said.
Advocates are calling for an investigation into how law enforcement handled death investigations after an audit of Maryland's Office of the
Advocates are calling for an investigation into how law enforcement handled death investigations after an audit of Maryland's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) found that some police custody deaths were misclassified. Members of Community Actively Seeking Transparency (CAST) and the Anne Arundel County NAACP are asking state leaders to determine if the mishandling of those cases could be considered obstruction of justice... ...The audit found patterns of possible racial disparities, Maryland Attorney General Brown said. According to the review, deaths that involved Black people or individuals who were restrained by police were less likely to be ruled as homicides.
This has been absolutely heartbreaking and enraging to learn about. Justice for the families of everyone who died in police custody
