The Aberdeen Police Department is continuing an investigation of the death of a man who was injured while in police custody earlier this month and died two days later at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
Aberdeen Police officers arrested Barry Lee Berkenkemper, 59, who lived in Belcamp, while he was walking along Route 40 during the afternoon of April 2. He was charged with public intoxication and failure to obey a lawful order, according to police.
Berkenkemper fell and hit his head while being taken to a detention cell in the police station, a spokesperson for the police department said at the time. He died at Shock Trauma on April 4.
As the investigation continues into the circumstances of Berkenkemper's death, the department is also conducting an internal investigation, spokesperson Cpl. Shannon Persuhn said.
Persuhn said in an email that a police report on the incident could not be released "at this time," citing the ongoing investigation.
The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has not completed its review of Berkenkemper's death.
Bruce Goldfarb, spokesman for Chief Medical Examiner, said Tuesday that a ruling on the cause and manner of the death is incomplete and said he could not release any information.
Not uncommon in Harford
There have been previous deaths of suspects in police custody and those placed in jail in Harford County over the past 25 years, but they have rarely generated the amount of publicity and accompanying outrage of similar deaths that have occurred recently in Maryland and elsewhere in the United States.
On Aug. 20, 2014, Arvel Douglas Williams, a 30-year-old Baltimore man with ties to Harford County, died shortly after being taken into custody in the White Marsh – Perry Hall area, after leading a group of Harford County Sheriff's deputies on a vehicle chase from Joppa. Police said Williams fled in his vehicle when the deputies attempted to stop him after seeing him engaged in "suspicious activity."
After crashing his vehicle into a Baltimore County Police Department cruiser and being subdued by the Harford deputies, who used a stun gun, the handcuffed Williams "suddenly began to experience a medical emergency," Baltimore County Police said. He died later that night at Franklin Square Hospital in Rosedale.
Seven Harford deputies involved in the chase and apprehension of Williams were placed on routine administrative leave during the investigation and returned to duty about two weeks following the incident after providing information to investigators from the Baltimore County Police Department, which handled the overall investigation because the incident occurred in its jurisdiction.
Williams died from cocaine intoxication, and his death was ruled accidental, Goldfarb, the medical examiner's office spokesperson said.
"The Baltimore County Police Department Homicide Unit has concluded its investigation into the August 2014 incident in White Marsh where a man died after having an apparent medical emergency while in the custody of Harford County Sheriff deputies," Cpl. J.B. Wachter, a spokesperson for the Baltimore County Police, wrote in an emailed statement Tuesday. "The Medical Examiner has ruled that the cause of death was cocaine intoxication and the manner of death was accidental. The investigation determined that the death was not as a result of any criminal act."
The Harford County Sheriff's Office, which operates the county detention center, has investigated 19 deaths at that facility since 1990, including one in 2011, two in 2012 and one in 2013, a spokesperson Cristie Kahler said. There were no deaths in 2014 and none so far this year.
The 2011 death was a suspect in a string of robberies who died of a heart attack believed to have been brought on by drug withdrawal, the Sheriff's Office said at the time. The other three who died where inmates who hung themselves, Kahler said.
Kahler said the Sheriff's Office is obligated to report deaths to state and federal authorities that occur while the person is in custody, not after they were released and died at a hospital, as two of the hanging victims did.
"In an effort to be completely transparent, Sheriff Gahler will include all deaths of individuals (medical conditions or injuries) that stemmed from incidents at the HCDC, even if they died after being released from custody," she said.
Homeless
Berkenkemper appears to have been homeless at the time he was picked up by Aberdeen Police.
The Aberdeen Police Department said his last known address was in the 1200 block of Brass Mill Road in Belcamp, the address of the Welcome One Emergency Shelter, which is in the Riverside Business Park and is operated by the Faith Communities and Civic Agencies United, a local nonprofit.
The 31-bed emergency homeless shelter is open each night, but closed during the day, Manager Susan Graper said.
Graper said she believes Berkenkemper stayed at the shelter during the week he was arrested, but she said information about residents is confidential and would not say how long he might have been a client.
Aegis staff members Ted Hendricks and Allan Vought contributed to this report.