Maryland Accident Law Blog

In Maryland, the mother of a 14-year-old boy who was shot and killed by police on August 12 has hired an attorney and is claiming that his death was a wrongful death situation.

Baltimore police say that Officer Roderick Mitter shot and killed Kevin Cooper outside his home in Southwest Baltimore after Cooper hit him and threatened him with a jagged, broken broom handle. Police say that Cooper’s mother, a state correctional officer, had called police, told them that her son was assaulting her, and asked police to come to her home on Font Avenue.

Officer Mitter says that he first tried apprehending Cooper, who was assaulting him, with Mace. He alleges that the boy then moved toward him with the broom handle, so he shot Cooper on the shoulder.

The family of a Brooklyn man who was shot and killed by a police officer in Baltimore earlier this month say that they plan to file a wrongful death suit.

Ernest Oliver, 39, was shot in the 600 block of Roundview Road in Cherry Hill on August 5 after he allegedly fled the scene of a suspected drug deal. Oliver was shot multiple times by Police Officer David Diener. Police say that Diener saw Oliver reach for his pockets and thought that his life was in danger. Oliver was pronounced dead after he was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Drugs, but no weapon, were found on him. Police are continuing to search for a weapon in the area where he was apprehended.

Oliver’s relatives say that police used excessive force to apprehend him. He leaves behind four children and a fiancé. Oliver had been arrested previously on drug charges, robbery charges, possession of a deadly weapon, and battery.

The parents of Connor Freed, a 5-year-old Davidsonville boy who drowned at the Crofton Country Club, are suing the club and DRD Pool Service, Inc, the Hunt Valley-based company that trains the club’s pool staff, for $20 million. The wrongful death lawsuit claims that there was not enough properly trained staff at the pool when their son drowned on June 22.

The complaint says that there was only one lifeguard at the pool that day and that this person allegedly froze when an unidentified woman pointed out that a boy was floating facedown in the water. After the boy was pulled out of the water, two different lifeguards are said to have improperly performed CPR on him. They also neglected to use the club’s defibrillator to revive him. During a 911-recorded phone call, a lifeguard can be heard telling the 911 operator that they are not allowed to use the club’s electronic device.

Freed was taken to Anne Arundel County Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The lawsuit, filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, alleges gross negligence and claims that the boy would not have died if there had been enough properly trained people at the pool that day.