Eastern Shore police death: Anton Black lawsuit adds defendant middletowntranscript.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from middletowntranscript.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
CLARIFICATION: This report updates the type of use of force reports in Thomas Webster IV s file.
As motions pile up urging a federal court to put to rest a lawsuit over the death of a Black teen in the custody of Eastern Shore police officers, a former Pocomoke City official has been added to the legal battle’s laundry list of defendants.
Anton Black, 19, died after a September 2018 encounter with police officers in the Caroline County town of Greensboro, Maryland.
What began as a 911 call reporting that Anton Black was pulling a child down the road with him ended with him unresponsive after at least three officers and a civilian restrained him outside his mother s trailer.
Police footage of the 2018 incident shows officers pinned Black down for more than five minutes as they handcuffed him and shackled his legs as his body eventually went limp. His mother stood nearby, yelling his name and begging for him to respond. He was later pronounced dead.
“It is staggering how much was done wrong in this case that was improper, illegal, unethical and disgraceful,” attorney Ken Ravenell, who represents the family, said in a statement. “But today we took a bold step towards justice for Anton Black and against the police officers who took his life and also against those who were complicit in covering up the injustice.”
When the State finally released its autopsy findings, officials outrageously contended that Anton’s bipolar disorder was a contributing cause of death, as opposed to the law enforcement officers’ brutal actions in chasing, tasing, and pinning Anton down under hundreds of pounds of weight for six minutes until he lost consciousness and stopped breathing, the lawsuit states.
The complaint alleges law enforcement improperly influenced the medical examiner.
The lawsuit points to a supplemental Maryland State Police report which included discussion with the medical examiner that Black s neck looked good as proof they wished to rule out evidence of physical violence and asphyxiation by police.
GREENSBORO â The family of Anton Black, a Black teenager who was killed in a police encounter in Greensboro in 2018, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against two officers, two police chiefs, their affiliated towns, and the state medical examiner involved in his case.
The federal lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on Thursday, Dec. 17, claims Black died as a direct and proximate result of the officersâ excessive force and racial bias, and that the State was complicit in covering up the true causes of Black s death.
Black died on the evening of Sept. 15, 2018, after being chased by Greensboro police officer Thomas Webster IV, who had been dispatched for an attempted child abduction in the area of the Choptank River Bridge in Greensboro.