An off-duty Baltimore police officer accused in the fatal shooting of a Marine outside a Mount Vernon club last summer should not have been on the force after a series of questionable incidents, the victim's family alleges in a $270 million lawsuit filed last week in Baltimore Circuit Court.
Officer Gahiji Tshamba has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of Tyrone Brown, 32, an East Baltimore man shot 12 times after getting into an altercation with Tshamba as they left the club in June.
The lawsuit names police commanders, including Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, and the state and city as defendants, and cites several incidents involving Tshamba, among them a shooting of a man in an off-duty incident in 2005 in which Tshamba was driving drunk and a 2006 car crash that occurred while he was driving without a license or registration, as evidence that he should not have been on the force.
"To allow officers known to have or suspected to have such a propensity for unreasonable and excessive use of deadly and/or non-deadly force to have full police powers with the authority to carry and operate a handgun endangered public safety and welfare and represented a breach of duty on behalf of the defendants," the lawsuit says.
A. Dwight Pettit, the family's attorney, said he has seen a marked increase in complaints of excessive force against the Police Department. He said he receives 20 to 30 new complaints each week, nearly consuming his practice's attention. Among those who recently contacted his office, he said, are relatives of both the 22-year-old man and the police officer shot and killed outside a nightclub near downtown last week.
Since Bealefeld took over in 2007, the department has been sending entire shifts of officers back to training for 30 days at a time. Police-involved shootings have declined each year.
"That might be their statistics, but that darn sure doesn't reflect my practice," Pettit said.
From mid-2007 to mid-2010, the city spent $7.25 million to settle claims of police misconduct, according to a summary prepared for a city councilwoman, the Daily Record reported. City officials have said that figure is not significantly higher or lower than previously.
The Baltimore Sun reported last summer that Tshamba had been suspended for eight days after shooting a man in the foot in a 2005 incident in which the off-duty officer was found to be driving while intoxicated. The lawsuit cites that incident along with three others. In 2006, Tshamba crashed his car into a light pole while driving without insurance or registration, and in 2001, he sent a woman to Central Booking after arresting her for signing a traffic ticket improperly. In 1998, Tshamba shot a suspect in the back after mistakenly believing that the person had opened fire, an incident for which he received a department commendation.
Police and witnesses have said that on June 5, Brown inappropriately touched Tshamba's female companion outside the club. The officer drew his weapon and challenged the unarmed Marine to "do it again," The Sun reported in June.
Brown's family acknowledges that he touched the woman and says that he apologized. According to the lawsuit, the woman attempted to hit Brown, who deflected the blow. Tshamba pointed to his weapon and shouted threats, then drew the gun and pointed it at Brown. He raised his hands, the lawsuit contends, as Tshamba backed him down an alley out of view of officers and clubgoers.
Tshamba's murder trial is scheduled to begin in March. His attorney, Adam Sean Cohen, has said that Tshamba took police action against Brown after witnessing a sexual assault. Cohen said Tshamba feared for his life and "did what he had to do."
"If one shot doesn't work, if two shots don't work … you fire until the threat is gone," Cohen said.
On Tuesday, Cohen said he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment. City Solicitor George Nilson did not return a phone call seeking comment. The city typically declines to comment on pending litigation.
The civil lawsuit was filed by Brown's wife, Loren Brown, and mother, Vivian Scott, Pettit said. Two of his children are also named as plaintiffs.
The lawsuit alleges that the Police Department dragged its feet in investigating the June shooting, saying investigators "failed to arrest Tshamba following the shooting despite police representatives publicly stating that they had no credible explanation for [his] actions." It says officials failed to require Tshamba to take an alcohol test and did not take a statement from him until a month after the shooting.
At the time, police said they quickly referred their investigation to city prosecutors. Tshamba disappeared, prompting a citywide manhunt, but later turned himself in without incident.
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