From [HERE] and [MORE] Prince George’s County police officer Bryant Strong was sentenced Thursday to one year in jail followed by three years of probation for his actions during a traffic stop in 2019 that left Demonte Ward-Blake paralyzed from the neck down. He faced up to 10 years in prison.

A grand jury indicted Strong in the fall of 2020, nearly a year after his encounter with Ward-Blake on Oct. 17, 2019, in Oxon Hill, Md., on the three misdemeanor charges.

Strong, 29, was found guilty in May of second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment during a bench trial before Circuit Court Judge DaNeeka V. Cotton, a “black” judge.

At Strong’s sentencing hearing Thursday, the courtroom was packed with about 50 people, many of them police employees there to support him and his right to harm and kill citizens at will. Three Prince George’s officers who had worked alongside Strong and developed friendships with him over the years spoke on his behalf, saying he is collegial, has a strong work ethic and is dedicated to his family and young son when he is not committing crimes against citizens.

Thursday, Judge Circuit Court Judge DaNeeka V. Cotton sentenced Strong to a total of 20 years, with all but one of them suspended, as long as he doesn’t violate his probation.  His attorney’s request to delay the start of incarceration pending appeal was denied, as was the request for home detention.

Ward-Blake had been pulled over for expired tags; that he became verbally outraged when a different officer pulled a gun because his girlfriend’s 6-year-old daughter was in the back seat; and that throughout parts of the encounter captured on film he had been compliant with all officer commands, including when he was detained, placed in handcuffs and sat on the curb.

Strong then decided to arrest Ward-Blake for disorderly conduct and walk him to the side of his cruiser, where he conducted a body search.

The judge found that Strong had become fed up with Ward-Blake’s cursing and yelling and snapped, lifting the man’s feet from the ground and slamming him headfirst into the concrete in a maneuver called a “takedown.”

A witness officer who had also responded to the traffic stop testified that soon after her arrival on the scene, she heard a “commotion” near Strong’s police cruiser and turned her head to see Ward-Blake’s feet in the air at a diagonal and Strong’s feet on the ground.

Prosecutors said her testimony, coupled with similar testimony from Ward-Blake’s girlfriend, Chinayne Pollard, and medical records showing the severity of the man’s injuries, proved Strong had used excessive force to slam the 24-year-old into the ground.

That use of force was reckless, they said, because Ward-Blake was compliant, handcuffed and had no way of breaking his own fall.

Strong’s attorneys, however, unsuccessfully argued that Ward-Blake’s paralysis was not the result of a criminal act but an “accident.”

Strong testified that once he took Ward-Blake to the side of his police cruiser, he started searching the man’s upper body and had crouched down by his ankles. At that point, Strong said, Ward-Blake elbowed him in the head — knocking him off balance. The officer testified that, at the same time, Ward-Blake had turned away in an alleged attempt to flee. Strong said he reached for the man’s arm to catch his balance, and the two fell together to the ground.

The judge did not find the officer to be credible. When she delivered her verdict, though, Cotton discounted that theory. The use of force was intentional and not accidental, she said, adding that she was “unpersuaded” that Strong’s testimony was “credible.” The judge called his actions “excessive” and “unjustified.”

Strong, she said, “did not act as a reasonable officer would.”

Civil rights attorney Malcolm Ruff spoke on behalf of Ward-Blake’s family, whom he is representing in a federal civil lawsuit against the county and Strong. Ruff told the judge that Ward-Blake was a loved and gregarious 24-year-old before the traffic stop, but his paralysis forced him into a wheelchair and caused agonizing pain. Ward-Blake died in a 2020 District Heights shooting. But, his family alleges his prior injuries contributed to his death. 

The Ward-Blake family is still pursuing a $75 million civil suit against Bryant Strong and Prince George’s county. The suit addresses a systemic pattern of police brutality in Prince George’s County.

Ward-Blake’s mother, Rena Ward, bowed her head as she listened in the courtroom beside community organizers and other women impacted by police violence. Ward said she was disappointed Strong hadn’t been given more jail time but that she had to “give it up to God.”

Judge Cotton did not, however, take into account Strong’s history of using force with others. Prosecutors presented evidence during the hearing about a previously undisclosed incident from November 2018 — one year before Ward-Blake was paralyzed — when Strong wrongfully detained someone who matched a robbery suspect description. The man, prosecutors said, protested the arrest. Strong took him to the ground, cuffed him and hit him several times, an action the police department’s internal investigation later found excessive.

Prosecutors argued this showed a pattern of behavior that the judge should consider before sentencing Strong. But Cotton disagreed, saying the matter was administrative, not criminal, and therefore irrelevant. [sounds incompetent. MLK warned: an effective way racists practice racism is by handling matters of great importance to Black people with frivolity; this can be carried out through the placement of unskilled, mediocre Black people in positions of great responsibility such as judges and officials in other areas of people activity.]

Strong’s police powers remain suspended until the police department’s internal affairs office completes its own investigation into the traffic stop.