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Posted by: kwflatbed

By Annie Linskey and Nick Madigan
The Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Police Department is considering changing a long-standing practice of quickly releasing names of officers who kill or injure citizens, which would run contrary to policies of several local and big-city agencies.
Under one plan, the officer's name would be released only after investigations by the department's internal investigation division, homicide and the state's attorney's office, said Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the city police and the mayor's office. Those investigations can take months.
Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III defended the change, saying that police officers involved in departmental shootings could become targets themselves. "We have to have a common-sense policy of balancing the officer's safety and the [officer's] family's safety against giving as much information as we can," he said.
A police spokesman had said in an e-mail to The Sun over the weekend that the policy change would be formalized soon. But after The Sun confronted Mayor Sheila Dixon about the issue yesterday, her staff said she had not been briefed on the matter. Her aides said the change is not imminent and would be thoroughly vetted.
In an interview, Dixon said: "I will follow the lead of our Police Department. I think the police officers have to protect themselves."
Last year, police officers shot 31 people, killing 13. This year, police have shot three people, killing all of them. Police had declined for weeks to release the names of officers in two of those shootings that occurred since Jan. 30. Clifford released the names Sunday, saying it would be unfair to impose a new policy retroactively.
Clifford said Officer Tommy Sanders shot Edward Lamont Hunt on Jan. 30 in the 2300 block of E. Northern Parkway. A defense attorney for Hunt's family said the man was unarmed and had been searched moments before.
Clifford also said that Officer Aaron McCullough fatally shot Dale Rodney Jones in the 4400 block of Fairview Ave. Police said Jones was armed with a knife and had just fatally stabbed his girlfriend and thrown her body out an apartment window.
Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for the city state's attorney's office, said that her boss also has concerns about withholding names. State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy "would not to do anything to jeopardize the progress that we have made with our relationship with the community," Burns said.
Edward T. Norris, a former Baltimore police commissioner who is now a radio talk show host, said that he could understand the department's reluctance to name officers involved in shootings, but he said the public's right to know was more important.
"I think the sense of it would be you are kind of hiding something if you don't [release names]," he said. "I had police-involved shootings. We always have them. We keep their names quiet for a little while, but we give them out. You are responsible to the public."
Doug Ward, director of the division of public safety leadership for the Johns Hopkins University, said police agencies need to be transparent. "As a society we generally do trust most police organizations to do their own internal police investigations," he said. "However it does not diminish the citizens' right to know."
Officer Kenneth Bryson, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, said release of such names depends on the circumstances.
Officer Sara Faden, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department, said her agency is under orders from the city's police commission "to release the names of officers who have shot," even if they were working undercover.
The Baltimore County Police Department does not always divulge names immediately. The release is made only "on the judgment of the media-relations office," said spokesman Bill Toohey, on whose shoulders the decision falls.
Toohey said he takes into account "the seriousness of the event and the aftermath of the event."
Lt. Jeffrey T. Silverman, Anne Arundel County police spokesman, said his department typically divulges officers' names within 12 to 24 hours. "We've never withheld the name, because we believe it's public information," he said. "We allow the officer to notify his family, and we notify other members of the agency internally. Once all the notifications are done, then we prepare to release the information to the media and the public."

Wire Service

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Posted by: kwflatbed

Md. police shooting goes to court



Grand jury hearing is set to start in case of man's Jan. death

By Annie Linskey
The Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE — A grand jury is scheduled to begin hearing witnesses today in a case involving a city police officer who fatally shot a man in Northeast Baltimore in January, according to a defense lawyer who represents officers for the Fraternal Order of Police union.
The Jan. 30 shooting prompted an outcry from the city's branch of the NAACP, which asked for an outside investigation into the circumstances of the shooting that killed 27-year-old Edward Lamont Hunt. His family has said he was unarmed when he was shot and police said they have not recovered a weapon.
Sterling Clifford, a police spokesman, said Officer Tommy Sanders III, a five-year veteran, was patrolling the Hamilton Park Shopping Center when he stopped Hunt for questioning. He said Hunt fought back and the officer feared for his safety when he fired. The police spokesman said police found suspected drugs on Hunt.
But witnesses have said that the officer searched Hunt and patted him down twice before Hunt broke away, and the officer fired, striking him in the back. Clifford declined to comment yesterday.
Michael E. Davey, the police union attorney representing Sanders, said little about the case. "We'll wait for the outcome of the grand jury," he said. Davey said that his client would not testify at the grand jury because prosecutors would not allow him to be questioned with his attorneys present.
Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for the city state's attorney's office, declined to comment. Grand jury proceedings are confidential. The FBI also is investigating the shooting, and a spokeswoman from that agency said its probe was still continuing.
A. Dwight Pettit, an attorney representing Hunt's family, said that he'd heard that the state's attorney's office would convene a grand jury, but did not know the date. "I'm sure the family will be pleased to know of this development," he said.
Asked about the shooting three weeks ago at an NAACP meeting, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said: "In regards to the police-involved shooting, all of those cases go the state's attorney's office. And I understand they are still considering the facts."
One witness to the shooting, Eddie Moore, 32, told The Sun that he was with his young daughter and watched the officer search Hunt twice, and make him put his hands on his head, before Hunt pulled away. "I could tell there was tension in the air," Moore said.
Then a few minutes later, he said the officer patted down Hunt's legs. The officer tried to cuff Hunt, but there was a struggle, Moore said. "The guy shook loose," Moore said, and then started to run away. "The officer said, 'Come back [expletive]. ... The officer was shooting with one hand."
Moore said he had been interviewed by homicide detectives and prosecutors, but had not been subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury.
So far this year, city police have shot 16 people, killing 12. Last year, police shot 33 people, killing 13. In 2006, police shot 15 people, killing five.
Sgt. Stephen R. Pagotto, a city officer who shot and killed Preston E. Barnes in 1996, was indicted. He was convicted of manslaughter in 1997, but the conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeals, which concluded that the departmental guidelines he violated did not rise to the level of a criminal act.

Wire Service

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Posted by: kwflatbed

Baltimore officer indicted in man's death


By Annie Linskey
The Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore grand jury indicted a city police officer yesterday on charges of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man he was questioning in Northeast Baltimore in January, according to the state's attorney's office.
It is only the second time since 1996 that a Baltimore officer has been indicted in an on-duty police-involved shooting. The January shooting was one of 16 by city officers this year that have resulted in a dozen fatalities, one short of the number killed in all of last year.
Officer Tommy Sanders III, 37, is expected to surrender to authorities, city prosecutors said in a statement released after the indictment was returned. He is a six-year veteran of the force.
Paul Blair, the head of the city's Fraternal Order of Police, described Sanders as "very upset" and added: "He's got a family. ... He lives in the city, the type of police we want working in this department. Hopefully, he will have a fair day in court, and all of the facts will come out."
Sanders is charged with shooting Edward Lamont Hunt, a 27-year-old man he had deemed suspicious and had stopped about noon in the Hamilton Park Shopping Center on Northern Parkway. Sanders and Hunt struggled,and Hunt pulled away, police said.
Police said at the time that Sanders, fearing for his life, shot Hunt. Witnesses told The Sun that the officer searched Hunt before letting him go and shot him in the back a few moments later. Police have said that no weapon was found, but that drugs were discovered near the location.
Eddie Moore, 32, told The Sun that he was with his young daughter and watched the officer search Hunt twice and make him put his hands on his head before Hunt pulled away. Moore said the officer went after Hunt, firing at his back.
"They were standing there for a few minutes," Moore said. "Then the officer frisked Hunt again, patting down both of his legs. When the officer pulled out a pair of handcuffs, Hunt pulled away, and the officer ran after him firing."
The shooting elicited anger from the city branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which called for an independent investigation. The FBI is conducting a civil rights investigation. Hunt was black, as is Sanders.
When told of the indictment yesterday, Hunt's girlfriend, Lakia Jeter, said: "I'm glad. I just hope it sticks. I hope that they found him guilty." Jeter said that she'd never seen Hunt with a weapon. She said Hunt had worked in Owings Mills and had moved from Virginia to live with her and their young son.
"That's what makes me feel bad, he came here to start a family for me," Jeter said. "This man was killed for nothing, as far as I can tell. Police cannot just go around killing people because they have a weapon and a badge."
But Michael J. Belsky, the officer's attorney, said Sanders has not been accused of any malice. "It is a very explainable and defensible situation," he said. "We intend to present evidence in court to explain that his was a fully explainable correct decision on the part of the officer." Sanders did not testify before the grand jury, said Michael Davey, another attorney representing him.
Sterling Clifford, a city police spokesman, said Sanders has been on administrative duty since the Jan. 30 shooting. The homicide unit investigates all police-involved shootings and turns its investigation over the prosecutor's office to review. State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy examines each case to determine whether she believes laws have been broken.
The last city officer to be indicted and convicted of a police-involved shooting while on duty was Sgt. Stephen R. Pagotto, who shot Preston E. Barnes in 1996 and was convicted of manslaughter in 1997. The conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeals, which concluded that the departmental guidelines he violated did not rise to the level of a criminal act.
Most shootings by city police are ruled justified. Jessamy has refused to take some to a grand jury, including one in 1997 in which an officer shot a man armed with a knife outside Lexington Market. The shooting was captured on videotape and sparked an outcry over the use of force. The city paid relatives of the man a half-million-dollar settlement, but the officer was never criminally charged.
"We can count on one hand the number of police officers who've been indicted for police-involved shootings," said Tim Dixon, a trial attorney who used to be a city police lieutenant. "Mrs. Jessamy doesn't take a lot of them there. There must be something particular about this that she wants the community to weigh in on."
Yesterday's indictment means that the grand jury believes there is probable cause that the officer committed a crime, but a trial will be needed to determine guilt or innocence. An arraignment is set for Aug. 29. The two counts, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, represent the lowest charges for a homicide under Maryland law.
To convict on a charge of voluntary manslaughter, prosecutors must prove the officer honestly believed he needed to take a life, but any other reasonable person in the same situation would not have felt that way. To prove involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors must show that the officer acted in a "grossly negligent" manner.
"Neither is more culpable than the other," said Byron L. Warnken, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. "One is voluntary. Both are felonies with a 10-year sentence."

Wire Service

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