While seeking approval this week for a $150,000 settlement in a lawsuit alleging brutality by a Baltimore detective, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's administration did not tell the city spending board that taxpayers had already paid $100,000 to settle another lawsuit against the officer.
City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, concerned about the omission, called Tuesday for greater disclosure about police misconduct.
"Going forward, that will become standard in this process," Lester Davis, Young's spokesman, said about information detailing previous payouts. Young "has made it clear to the Law Department that he would like to know about prior allegations. Everyone benefits in this process."
Comptroller Joan M. Pratt, who sits with Young on the five-member spending board, also said she wanted to know about "prior legal matters" when a proposed settlement involving a police officer comes before the board. "However, each settlement that comes to the board should stand on its facts," she said in a statement.
The administration vowed to provide more details about settlements after a Baltimore Sun investigation found that taxpayers had paid nearly $6 million since 2011 in lawsuits alleging misconduct by officers — including some who had been sued multiple times. The investigation also showed that city officials lacked a comprehensive system to track such misconduct.
The new settlement — one of two police-related proposals scheduled for a Board of Estimates vote Wednesday — would provide $150,000 to Marque Marshall. The Baltimore man had to have two fingers reattached after Detective Calvin Moss shot him in the Belair-Edison neighborhood in 2013.
In such settlements, the officer and city do not acknowledge any wrongdoing.
Documents sent to Board of Estimates members didn't mention that Moss has faced other lawsuits alleging misconduct. In 2012, for example, the city paid a $100,000 settlement to a cafeteria worker who alleged that Moss wrongfully arrested her while she was delivering church raffle tickets.
Juries ruled in favor of Moss in two other lawsuits.
City lawyers didn't disclose the $100,000 settlement on Monday when they briefed Young and Pratt. The officials didn't learn about the earlier payout until The Sun asked the administration about the omission.
Amid the community anger sparked by The Sun investigation, administration officials said in October that the Law Department's settlement committee of eight senior lawyers would get information on prior lawsuits and determine whether an officer would make a good witness in court. Officials also vowed to provide more detailed records to the Board of Estimates.
Mayoral spokesman Kevin Harris said city lawyers do not want to prejudice board members, so they only provide information on a lawsuit under consideration. Older allegations or earlier payouts will be provided if board members request records, he added, noting that neither Young nor Pratt had asked for that.
"If the council president and comptroller want that information, all they have to do is ask," Harris said.
Harris said the administration is not hiding information from the public. "There's nothing to suggest that we're not being transparent."
City Councilman Warren Branch, head of the public safety committee, said the administration should disclose information about earlier payouts to the Board of Estimates. "We should be transparent in everything since it's the people's money."
Last fall, some ministers and activists were skeptical of Rawlings-Blake's transparency pledge. That's still true.
"That conduct does not surprise me," said attorney A. Dwight Pettit, who frequently represents plaintiffs in lawsuits against police officers. "I don't have much confidence in their disclosure system."
In January 2013, according to court records, Marshall jumped from a car near Belair Road and fled from Moss and his partner. At one point, Marshall "squared himself up" to fire a gun at the officers. Having seen a handgun in Marshall's hands, Moss fired and hit Marshall's left hand, records say. But no handgun was found at the scene.
Marshall faced several charges, but prosecutors dismissed them.
Moss joined the force in 2004 and earns about $63,000 a year. Police do not allow officers to comment on lawsuits or settlements.
In the 2012 case, Moss and his partner arrested a woman near Harford Road and charged her with gun and drug offenses after the men spotted her near a known drug house. She spent two days in jail. Her 2010 lawsuit said she was walking up the street to a meet a friend to sell the raffle tickets. Prosecutors dropped all charges against her.
In a second police-related settlement before the board Wednesday, Albert Lemon says he was wrongly arrested in August 2012 at a Northwest Baltimore apartment complex where he was working as a security guard. Officials recommended the $73,000 payout to Lemon due to conflicting information about the case, and the uncertainty of jury trials.
Lemon, a former Baltimore officer, called 911 to report what appeared to be drug-related activity at the complex in the 600 block of Pennsylvania Ave. When two officers arrived, they saw that Lemon had handcuffed a suspect inside the leasing office, according to a summary sent to the spending board.
The officers "exchanged words regarding whether it was appropriate" for Lemon to have handcuffed the suspect. Lemon was arrested and later released without charges.
But Lemon's lawsuit said the criminal charges were filed after he made a formal complaint to internal investigators.
While the Baltimore Police Department undergoes a collaborative review overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice to curb misconduct, Rawlings-Blake did keep a pledge this month to post online the outcomes of all lawsuits against officers.
The records don't provide many details about the lawsuits, but her staff said the postings are a starting point and more information will be added in the future. Meanwhile, city lawyers are reviewing a clause in the standard settlement agreement that requires plaintiffs to not publicly discuss the case.
Rawlings-Blake ordered lawyers to determine whether that clause is consistent with best practices. The clause drew criticism from defense lawyers and some city officials after being highlighted in The Sun's investigation. Results from the study could be released in the coming weeks.
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