Baltimore settles shooting suit for $375K

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The mother and children of an unarmed man who was killed while evading arrest in 2008 have settled their $10 million lawsuit against the Baltimore patrolman who shot him for $375,000.

The agreement came on the third day of trial in Baltimore City Circuit Court, where, a year earlier, a different jury acquitted Officer Tommy Sanders III of manslaughter in the killing of Edward Lamont Hunt at the Hamilton Park Shopping Center. Sanders testified at his criminal trial that he used deadly force only when Hunt, 27, reached into his own coat pocket while running from the officer.

In the civil suit, Hunt’s mother and two young children alleged that Sanders acted “without justification or excuse” in firing his gun three times at Hunt, hitting him twice in the back, around noon on Jan. 30, 2008.

Sanders had conducted a 10-minute pat-down of the suspect before the shooting and therefore must have known he was unarmed, said attorney A. Dwight Pettit.

“He did a thorough search,” Pettit added, “from his head down to his feet.”

Sanders had no basis for even detaining Hunt, as the officer had no “articulable suspicion” that Hunt was in possession of drugs, said Pettit, a Baltimore solo practitioner.

But Sanders’ defense counsel said the officer had a strong basis for suspecting and detaining Hunt, including the presence of a bag of marijuana under his foot. The shooting was justified because Sanders feared for his own life and those of shopping center patrons when Hunt, while fleeing from the officer, reached into his coat pocket, the defense argued.

Pettit assailed that argument as “weak” and overused in cases when an unarmed man is shot.

“When police shoot to kill, they use that defense over and over again,” he said.

If the choice were his, Pettit said, he would not have settled what he called an especially strong case.

But the decision to settle rested with the clients, who were concerned that any compensation awarded by the Baltimore City Circuit Court jury might have been capped at $200,000 under the Maryland Local Tort Claims Act, Pettit said.

Challenging the cap’s legality on appeal would have taken years to complete and with no guarantee of success, he added.

“I wasn’t an advocate of settling,” Pettit said. “That’s the clients’ call, not mine.”

The settlement was reached June 2 and the order was filed on June 10, according to online court records. It is subject to approval by the city’s Board of Estimates but has not yet been put on the board’s agenda, said Baltimore City Solicitor George A. Nilson.

Nilson declined to comment on the settlement, saying he would reserve any statement until called upon to defend the agreement before the Board of Estimates.

Sanders’ attorney, Michael L. Marshall, did not return telephone messages seeking comment. Marshall, retained by the city to defend the officer, is with Schlachman, Belsky & Weiner PA in Baltimore.

Hunt’s mother, Sheryl D. Hunt; his son and daughter; and his estate, sued Sanders for $5 million each in compensatory and punitive damages. The lawsuit alleged claims against Sanders for wrongful death, battery, false imprisonment and violating Hunt’s rights under the Maryland Constitution while acting under “color and pretense of law.”

The plaintiffs were still putting on their case when the settlement was reached, Pettit said.

The jury in the civil case was never told of Sanders’ acquittal of manslaughter, as Baltimore City Circuit Judge Audrey J.S. Carrion granted the plaintiffs’ request that the criminal verdict not be mentioned at trial.

Pettit’s co-counsel, Michael L. Sandul, defended the request Friday, saying any mention of the officer’s acquittal might have been “prejudicial” against the plaintiffs. If they were told Sanders had been found not guilty, the jurors might have been inclined to find him not liable in Hunt’s death, said Sandul, an Odenton solo practitioner.

“It’s kind of confusing for people to understand that one has nothing to do with the other,” Sandul said of the criminal and civil trials.