GREENSBORO, MD – Today, following an initial ruling last week denying qualified immunity to the individual police officers who killed Eastern Shore 19 year-old Anton Black, U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Blake issued an across-the-board ruling summarily rejecting remaining motions by supervisory police and municipal officials, as well as that by the Office of the Maryland State Medical Examiner, seeking to escape responsibility for their roles in the child’s death. Now, the case – brought by the family of Anton Black and the Coalition for Justice for Anton Black – will proceed against all defendants on all claims, including novel claims being pursued against Maryland’s State Medical Examiner’s office for covering up police officials’ 2018 murder of the Greensboro teen.
The following quote can be attributed to LaToya Holley, sister of Anton Black:
“This sweeping ruling matters so much to our family and our ongoing struggle to ensure there is accountability for the police who murdered Anton, all those who covered it up, and for the medical examiner who tried to justify it. This ruling gives us some hope in our hearts that accountability will come, and that our lawsuit may ultimately help other families around the country who are also mourning loved ones whose killings by police were also covered up.”
In December 2019, Anton’s family and the Coalition for Justice for Anton Black filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Baltimore, charging an unconstitutional police killing and a cover-up involving a decertified officer with a long record of abuse, two Eastern Shore police chiefs – one of whom has since pled guilty to criminal misconduct – three small towns, and the State Medical Examiner.
Anton Black’s family is represented by Kenneth W. Ravenell, René C. Swafford, Leslie Hershfield, and Tomeka Church. The Coalition for Justice for Anton Black is represented by the ACLU of Maryland: Senior Staff Attorney Sonia Kumar, Legal Director Deborah Jeon, Staff Attorneys Ieshaah Murphy and Tierney Peprah, with the support of Intake & Investigations Manager Gina Elleby and Legal Program Associate Jay Jimenez; John A. Freedman, Ryan D. Budhu, Joseph P. Klemme, Jayce Born, John F. Mezzanote, Jr., and Florence Bryan of Arnold & Porter.
View the legal complaint and learn more about the case here.
