Multi-Million Dollar Lawsuit Alleges Baltimore Police Killed Unarmed Black Man: Slammed on Head, then Handcuffed & Beaten by Cops

From [HERE] The family of a Black man who died in the custody of a Baltimore police officers is suing the Ba;timore Police department for wrongful death. Their multi-million dollar lawsuit claims officers used excessive force on Anthony Anderson, 46, and died from police brutality.

In September 2012, police confronted Anderson in East Baltimore, suspecting a drug deal. Officers said Anderson refused to follow orders and put drugs in his mouth. They said an officer then bear hugged Anderson and tackled him to the ground. At first police attempted to say that he died from asphyxiation after choking on drugs. Police changed their story after an autopsy showed otherwise. 

An autopsy report provided by the family showed that he suffered fractures to eight ribs, contusions to his left lung and a ruptured spleen. The state medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.

Witnesses who saw the arrest have reported that he was slammed on his head by a plainclothes officer who approached him from behind.. “Picked him up and slammed him on his head,” one witness explained. “Guy never looked back or anything. He didn’t even see the police coming,” Keith Johnson, who witnessed the arrest, said. Witnesses say Anderson was leaving a bar on Biddle Street, walking across the lot when he was confronted by plainclothes police. [MORE] Witnesses also say the plainclothes police never announced themselves or ordered him to stop. 

"Tthey grabbed him they pinned his arms to the side, and they came straight up, and slammed him on his neck, collar-bone like,” said Dereck Jackson of East Baltimore. Other witnesses have given similar acounts of Anderson being slammed down on his head. [MORE]. They say he went limp, and believe he already was dead when an ambulance picked him up. [MORE] 

The 86-page complaint alleges officers handcuffed Anderson then kicked him “in the ribs, stomach, back and chest for several minutes maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm.”

The family wants their loss to spur changes in the police department. “There’s no discipline. There’s no accountability. They fail to train. They fail to supervise. And as a result, the citizens are placed in peril,” said Gordon.

In January, Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein, racist suspect in photo, decided not to file charges, saying officers did not use excessive force. Anderson’s family was outraged. 

“We just want to make it clear that we do not have a problem with the Baltimore City Police Department. We have a problem with the officers who think they’re above the law,” said Nancy Harvey, Anderson’s sister.

Their lawsuit names the detectives involved in the arrest and the Baltimore Police Department.