A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the mother of a mentally ill man who was shot to death by police officers she had called for help calming him down.
Marcella Holloman was representing herself in the lawsuit against the city and the police officers involved in the May 2012 shooting of 31-year-old Maurice Donald Johnson during a children's birthday party in Northeast Baltimore.
Johnson was unarmed but fighting with police, U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake wrote. She said the officers' use of deadly force was "objectively reasonable under the circumstances they confronted."
"The court is very sympathetic to Ms. Holloman, who has suffered a tragic loss," Blake wrote in her opinion. "This case illustrates the difficult choices facing both family members and law enforcement officers in dealing with individuals exhibiting violent behavior perhaps because of mental illness."
Holloman could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Holloman could not find a lawyer to take the case and petitioned the court to appoint an attorney. She wrote in court papers that "there was absolutely no reason that two armed police officers cannot restrain one unarmed man."
She said she had called 911 in hopes of getting Johnson transported to a hospital for treatment, and police had no probable cause to arrest him.
Johnson was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2009, Holloman said, and his behavior on several occasions required her to call police for help, according to a summary of the case written by Blake. In one instance, he was found jumping on top of cars naked and was taken to a psychiatric ward.
Holloman was hosting a birthday party for her 6-year-old granddaughter when she heard a crash upstairs, Blake wrote. Johnson had smashed his wall mirror and a 42-inch television, and Holloman decided he needed to go to the hospital.
Johnson was upset by that decision, Blake wrote, and told his mother that "she should call the police, as she had done previously, because he 'ain't going nowhere.'"
Holloman got the party guests into a car while Johnson ripped at the back door.
Officer Paul Markowski was first on the scene, and was soon joined by Officer Gregory Bragg. Holloman said she told the officers not to shoot her son. She said using a Taser would likely calm him down.
The officers struggled to restrain Johnson. He eventually pinned Markowski down on the floor. Bragg, unable to pull Johnson off, Blake wrote in her summary, drew his service weapon and fired multiple gunshots.
Blake noted that an officer "may use deadly force only if there is 'probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to the officer or to others.'"
"Simply put," she wrote, "the record shows that a reasonable officer in either officer's shoes would have found sufficient justification to use such force because, at the moment they shot Johnson, the officers had probable cause to believe that Johnson posed a threat of serious physical harm to Officer Markowski."
Blake wrote that Johnson could have caused serious physical harm. He had "already violently damaged various household objects and fixtures," she wrote, and Holloman had advised the officers that his erratic behavior would not stop. He ignored officers' pleas to stop and punched at least one of them.
"These facts, considered together, render reasonable the officers' use of deadly force," Blake concluded.