$1M Settlement: Baltimore Cops Beat Tyrone West to Death During Routine Traffic Stop in System of White Supremacy

From [HERE]  and [HERE] Baltimore officials said Wednesday they plan to pay the family of Tyrone West $600,000 to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit alleging police misconduct and excessive force. The announcement came as state officials approved paying $400,000 to settle their share of the suit.

The combined $1 million is to settle a suit filed after West died in 2013 during an altercation with police during a traffic stop in Northeast Baltimore.

The family’s attorney, A. Dwight Pettit, said the money would go to West’s three children — Nashay West, Tyrone West Jr. and a minor child — and lawyers’ fees.

Thus, the total settlement (from the city and state) will be $1 million in return for the family dropping their lawsuit, which was scheduled to go to trial this fall.  The family is represented by A. Dwight Pettit.

The city’s share represents the biggest cash outlay since the $6.4 million settlement with the Gray family – and is double the $300,000 paid in February to the family of Anthony Anderson to settle another high-profile excessive force case.

West died on July 18, 2013 after police pulled over his vehicle in Northeast Baltimore for a "routine traffic stop."  

West borrowed a 1999 Mercedes-Benz owned by his sister, school teacher Tawanda Jones, when an acquaintance named Cortinthea Servance contacted him for a ride. West was described as an unlicensed cab driver who provided transportation to neighborhood residents. Servance met him at the intersection of Loch Raven Boulevard and Winston Avenue in the North Baltimore neighborhood of New Northwood.They drove four-tenths of a mile to the intersection of Kitmore Road and Northwood Drive to eat the boxes of chicken West had picked up. After a few minutes, Servance asked West to back up in the intersection and turn east on Kitmore Road, deciding to return to her mother’s house on Kitmore.

They were passed by officers Chapman and Bernardez-Ruiz driving an unmarked police vehicle wearing ballistic vests and BPD badges but not in uniform, all according to standard protocol for the Northeast Operations Unit. They observed a dark green Mercedes unsafely backing into an intersection and turning eastbound on Kitmore Road at which point they turned around and began to follow the car. The driver and passenger reportedly "made suspicious movements" inside the car after making eye contact with the police.The passenger explained that west was balancing chicken on his lap and eating while driving. [MORE]

The cars had proceeded one block east of Northwood Drive on Kitmore Road when the officers initiated a traffic stop at 7:13 p.m., citing suspicious behavior and backing into an intersection. West turned south on Kelway Road and stopped the car adjacent to 1365 Kitmore Road. Both officers approached and asked if the occupants were carrying drugs, asking them to step out of the car at which point Servance refused. Police requested a female officer to search Servance and both suspects were placed on the curb while the car was searched.

During questioning, police noticed a bulge in West’s sock, discovering a bag of cocaine when West shoved Officer Bernardez-Ruiz backward. Possession of cocaine was in violation of his parole and would have likely resulted in an eight-year prison sentence. Investigators later found 13 bags of cocaine in the car totaling roughly a gram. Only a couple of witnesses agreed to be interviewed, but they all concurred that West initiated the fight. The suspect punched Bernardez-Ruiz who placed West in a bear hug. Officer Chapman joined the fracas but West was too strong to be restrained.

One witness told investigators that police officers simply pulled West out of his car “by his dreads and started beating him and maced him, he got up and called for help and the cops knocked him over and beat him to death, then tried to bring him back.”

Tyrone West fled northwest across Kitmore Road when Chapman contacted dispatch with an officer-in-distress call. West was wrestled to the ground by both officers near an alleyway. Witnesses including Servance stated West kept getting up and resisting, still punching and kicking officers. Repeatedly, West would seemingly comply with officers, only to resume punching, kicking, and pushing. A witness claimed that police used a taser on West when he failed to comply, but evidence verified that no taser was ever used.

Officers deployed Oleoresin Capsicum Spray and Chapman struck West in the thigh with a baton, but he seemed unfazed. Police were incapacitated by the spray and West escaped their grasp before they could handcuff him. Bernardez-Ruiz verbally stated to let him go when West attacked them a fourth time before fleeing in the direction of his sister's Mercedes, eventually tackled on the sidewalk in front of 1365 Kitmore Road.

Two Morgan State University policemen, Officer David Lewis and his partner, were the first backup to arrive, coming from campus one mile away. They were closely followed by a Baltimore police car driven by trainee Danielle Lewis with fellow officers Latreese Nicole Lee and Matthew Cioffi. The Morgan State officer arriving eastbound on Kitmore Road stopped his vehicle at the scuffle just prior to the intersection with Kelway Road when he was rear-ended by Lewis.

Bernardez-Ruiz and Chapman were exhausted and suffering from the effects of the pepper spray, now retreating while backup officers attempted to control West still fighting and kicking. A witness recalled seeing West and Morgan State Officer Lewis punching each other before West was tackled and pepper sprayed.^[5]

Two more Baltimore officers arrived, bringing the police presence to nine, while a police helicopter arrived overhead. West was finally subdued and four officers departed the melee to speak with three arriving officers, twelve policemen now present including Derrick Beasley, Alex Hashagen, and Eric Hinton.^[20][6] Only six officers were actually involved in restraining West.

One witness, who asked not to be identified, reported seeing officers strike West with batons and kick his back and head. A Baltimore officer thought he saw Morgan State Officer Lewis with his knees across West’s back, telling him not to do that, but other officers dispute that ever happening. West was in handcuffs when he appeared to experience a medical episode with labored breathing, so Chapman immediately radioed for medical help.

As supervising Officer Corey Jennings arrived to find West unresponsive, he removed his handcuffs, turned him over, and immediately started CPR. EMT personnel arrived within five minutes and CPR was performed for about 20 minutes.^[6]

Continuing lifesaving measures, they transported West to Good Samaritan Hospital where he was eventually pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m.^[Tyrone’s younger sister Tawanda Jones recalls feeling a sharp pain on the right side of her neck at precisely 7:00 p.m. similar to the effect that twins claim to experience. The pain and resulting numbness subsided ten minutes later when she immediately told her fiancé that she felt like something had happened to her brother. When the local news ran the story at 10:00 p.m. that evening, Jones and family recognized Tyrone’s body before they were notified by law enforcement. [MORE]

 Interim Baltimore Solicitor David Ralph said he intended to bring the proposed $600,000 settlement to the city’s Board of Estimates in August. The spending panel is controlled by Mayor Catherine E. Pugh, who on Wednesday expressed sympathy for West’s family.

“I don’t think any amount of money can replace anyone. I don’t think there’s any kind of solace in any settlement,” she said.

Meanwhile, the state’s Board of Public Works approved the state portion of the settlement at its meeting Wednesday. The panel includes the governor, who was represented Wednesday by Lt. Gov. Boyd K. Rutherford, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp.

West’s family and supporters, including his sister Tawanda Jones, have held weekly vigils — dubbed “West Wednesdays” — for 208 straight weeks since his death in an effort to raise awareness about the case.

Pettit said Jones has been removed from the case to avoid jeopardizing the payment to West’s children. Plaintiffs in city settlements are often prohibited from disparaging the city as part of the agreements.

“We didn’t want to run afoul of that,” Pettit said.

Jones held a press conference Wednesday evening and said she rejected being part of the settlement because she refuses to be silenced by entering into a non-disparagement agreement.

“They will not tell me what I can and cannot say, and I do not want to jeopardize his children’s settlement,” she said. “I will never, ever settle for anything. I’m on the right side of justice.”

Then-Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts ordered an independent review of West’s treatment. The review panel concluded in August 2014 that the officers involved did not use excessive force but made tactical errors that “potentially aggravated the situation” and did not follow basic policies.

Officers acknowledged punching West, striking him with batons and spraying him with pepper spray, but denied any wrongdoing.

No officers were charged in West’s death. Gregg L. Bernstein, Baltimore’s state’s attorney at the time, said the officers had used “objectively reasonable force.”

The case played a role in Marilyn J. Mosby's successful challenge to Bernstein in the 2014 Democratic primary. Mosby criticized the way Bernstein handled the case for a lack of “transparency,” but declined to reopen it after she was elected state’s attorney.

An autopsy review commissioned by West’s family came to the conclusion that he died of “positional asphyxiation” while being restrained. Dr. Adel Shaker, a former medical examiner in Alabama and Mississippi, said that West “was not able to breathe during restraint process when he was held down by police officers sitting on him.” The civil lawsuit, filed in June 2014, was slated to go to trial earlier this month, but was pushed back to the fall.