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New Plaintiffs Join ACLU Illegal Arrests Lawsuit, Call on City Police to Finally End Unconstitutional Practices (12/18/2007)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
BALTIMORE Charging that Baltimore City police continue to arrest thousands
of people without just cause each year, the American Civil Liberties Union of
Maryland today added new plaintiffs to its lawsuit against the Baltimore City
Police Department amending the case to challenge wrongful arrests that
took place since the filing of the lawsuit in 2006. The legal filing includes an
original plaintiff in the lawsuit who was wrongfully arrested for a second time,
a young man who was illegally arrested twice in the same summer, and four
plaintiffs who were wrongfully arrested while engaged in protected First
Amendment activity.
In addition to many individual plaintiffs, ACLU
represents both the Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches and the
Baltimore City Branch of the NAACP in the lawsuit.
"How many more
innocent people have to be handcuffed, taken to Central Booking, strip searched,
kept in crowded and filthy cells, and then released without being charged in
order for justice and the rule of law to again have meaning for all
Baltimoreans?" said David Rocah, Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Maryland.
Tim Johnson, a neurobiologist in town from Texas for a research
convention, was arrested after stopping on the street to watch a woman being
handcuffed. Armondo Horsey, an architect from Baltimore, was arrested with his
friend Jonathan Lindsay after showing concern for what appeared to them to be an
incident of police brutality. Raffic Scott and Kerrell Wright were arrested
while handing out religious pamphlets in an entirely legal manner. (See attached
biographies for details about plaintiffs added to the
lawsuit).
From January through August of 2007 (the last date for
which data is publicly available), approximately 21% of those persons arrested
without a warrant by the Baltimore Police Department have been released without
charge. ³Despite a decline in the percentage of cases where the State¹s Attorney
declines prosecution, the still extraordinary number of persons released without
charge, and the facts of our clients¹ particular arrests, indicate a continuing
problem,² said Rocah.
"There is no justification for arresting a
young man for tying his shoe in front a friend¹s house in his own neighborhood,
or for walking with his friends to a basketball game in the summer,² said Marvin
³Doc² Cheatham, President of the Baltimore City Branch of the NAACP. ³This
practice by the Baltimore City Police Department does nothing but make it harder
for our young men to make it in this city and harder for us to bring the
community and police together."
In June 2006, the ACLU filed a
class-action lawsuit, NAACP v. BCPD, challenging the wrongful arrest practices
of the Baltimore police. The lawsuit targets both city and state officials for
their roles in making illegal arrests and mistreating arrestees taken into
custody at Central Booking.
Plaintiffs are represented by ACLU
cooperating counsel Mitch Karlan, New York partner at Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher LLP, along with Washington D.C. partner Wayne Schrader and D.C.
associates Daniel Cantu, Bennett Borden, Jason Morrow, Hillary Gould, Dave
Wharwood, Darcy Troutman, Lissa Percopo, Erik Zimmerman, and Joy Dowdle, and by
ACLU of Maryland lawyers Deborah A. Jeon and David Rocah.
Go to
ACLU-MD¹s website to see video of arrests, pictures of plaintiffs, and to learn
more about the illegal arrests lawsuit:
http://www.aclu-md.org
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