Washington Post

Investigative Series

"A Blue Wall of Silence"


The Washington Post presents a four-part series about shootings by Prince George's County police officers.

Over the course of 15 months, Post reporters Craig Whitlock and David Fallis found that officers had shot and killed people at rates that exceeded those of almost every other large police force in the nation.

Since 1990, they have shot 122 people, killing 47 of them. Almost half of those shot were unarmed, and many had committed no crime. Prince George's top police officials, unlike those in many other police departments, ruled that every one of the shootings was justified.

We present some of their stories here.


Gary A. Hopkins, Jr.

Died:
Nov. 27, 1999, Age 19

 

Hopkins, a college student, was killed in the parking lot of the West Lanham Hills fire station as he was leaving a late-night party with a carload of friends. Police said that they stopped the car after someone told them a passenger was carrying a gun. Authorities said Hopkins got out of the car and tried to grab an officer's gun out of his hand. According to the police report, as the officer and Hopkins wrestled for the weapon, a second officer, Brian C. Catlett, shot Hopkins once in the chest. Witnesses said that Hopkins was shot without provocation and that prior to the shooting, the same officers had harassed Hopkins and his friends. Catlett was later indicted on charges of manslaughter, making him the only Prince George's officer to face criminal charges for killing someone while in uniform. Catlett did not respond to letters and phone calls by The Post seeking comment. A Circuit Court judge subsequently found him not guilty.


Gary Leonard Sanford

Died:
May 20, 1998, Age 42

Related Article

Sanford stopped his truck along Route 1 in Hyattsville after a night of drinking. Cpl. Joseph M. Palmieri approached him, then shot Sanford because, Palmieri said, he thought Sanford was reaching for gun. Sanford, who was unarmed, bled to death.


Marvin Partee

Wounded:
May 23, 1996, Age 35

Partee and a white friend were driving through Oxon Hill when they were spotted by Sgt. Richard Logue. Logue and his partner followed the pair for several blocks before pulling them over for going 43 mph in a 25 mph zone. The officers said as they stopped, Partee reached for something under his seat and ran from the car. Logue chased him. As they turned a corner, Partee stumbled and Logue said he saw a "glistening black object" in Partee's hand. Logue fired, but the bullet missed. Partee threw away the object, then tried to crawl away. Logue said that when Partee then reached into his pants for another "black object," Logue shot him twice, once in the back of each leg. According to court records, the first object turned out to be an address book; the second, a pouch containing marijuana and heroin. There was no gun. Partee was convicted on drug possession charges, but appellate judges overturned the conviction, calling the arrest and shooting an "illegal action."



Daniel Jose Torres

Wounded:
Nov. 20, 1998, Age 32

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Torres was waiting for his order at a Popeye's Fried Chicken restaurant when he was confronted by Cpl. Alita V. Robinson. Robinson, who was in uniform and moonlighting as a security guard at the restaurant, said she saw something that appeared to be a marijuana-filled cigar behind Torres's ear. However, by the time Robinson approached Torres, the object was gone. Robinson said she pepper-sprayed Torres, who had initially been cooperative, after he stopped complying and "pushed back toward me - real hard." Robinson then shot Torres after she said he reached into his waistband. Torres was hit by one bullet in the back and another in the buttocks. Police charged him with second-degree assault and resisting arrest. Prosecutors added two more charges: drug possession and failure to obey an officer. A judge found Torres not guilty, saying police had no right to arrest him and that he was legally entitled to defend himself.


Michael Otis Mills

Wounded:
Jan. 1, 1995, Age 24

Related Article

Mills was sitting in the driver's seat of his Chevy Blazer watching a fight outside a Capitol Heights dance club when Cpl. Warren M. Hayes shot him. Hayes said he was breaking up the fight when Mills gunned the engine and tried to run him over. Hayes said he fired several shots as the Blazer hurtled toward him. Mills was charged with assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to maim, assault with intent to disable and reckless endangerment. In court, Mills acknowledged watching the fight from inside the vehicle but said it never moved. He said that he put his hands in the air to surrender when Hayes yelled at him to freeze but that Hayes shot him anyway. Witnesses supported Mills's story, and a jury found him not guilty on all counts.


Kendell Grant

Died:
May 2, 2000, Age 42

Related Article
Audio: 911 call

Police officials said Officer Michael A. Arnett shot Grant, a suspected burglar, after he refused to drop a knife during an attempted break-in. Neighbors say Grant was dressed only in his underwear and banging on a friend's door, yelling things no one could understand. One neighbor said police were 30 to 40 feet from Grant when he was shot. Five of the eight shots were to the back of his body, according to an autopsy. Police said they shot Grant's dog after it attacked them. Grant bled to death.


James E. Minter

Wounded:
May 17, 1992, Age 19

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Minter was shot while sitting in his wheelchair on the steps of a Suitland apartment complex. Police said Minter had been "verbally abusive" and disobeyed commands to keep his hands behind his head. Cpl. Archie D. Joiner said he shot Minter because he thought Minter was reaching into his waistband for a gun. Joiner had searched Minter and a nearby bag moments before the shooting, witnesses said.


Rashaun L. Richardson

Died:
Feb. 25, 1991, Age 16

Related Article
Richardson's Story

Cpl. Mary Shields said she and her police dog tried to arrest Richardson after he and a friend broke into Andrew Jackson Middle School in Forestville. Police said Richardson, who weighed 140 pounds, tossed the officer's German shepherd into a row of metal lockers, tore off the dog's collar and beat the officer into unconsciousness. Shields said that although she was "hazy" on the details, she remembered shooting Richardson while he was beating her. An autopsy found that Richardson was shot in the upper back and in the back of the left thigh.


Tyrone Antwon Harris

Died:
May 13, 1997, Age 18

Related Article

A resident of Kent Village Apartments called police about 9:30 p.m. for an undisclosed reason. Officers Matthew C. Barba and Harry W. Oldfield III saw that the door to an apartment was ajar and burst in with guns drawn. They found themselves face to face with Harris. Police said they fired in self-defense when Harris attacked them and tried to grab their guns. A homicide detective in charge of the investigation didn't interview the officers, nor did he examine the officers' guns for fingerprints or test Harris's clothing for gunshot residue. Both officers wrote nearly identical Discharge of Firearms reports, changing only a few words. Antione Glasgow said he was in the apartment and saw the whole thing. He told detectives Harris was leaving just as the officers came in. There was a brief confrontation followed by gunshots, Glasgow said, which left Harris face down with a gunshot wound to the head. Officers stood over his body and fired a volley of shots into his back, Glasgow said. According to the autopsy report, 13 rounds had been fired into Harris's back. The crime scene report also stated that several bullets had been fired into the floor. Three years later, lawyers for the county paid the family an undisclosed amount to settle a lawsuit.


Major Maurice Anderson

Wounded:
Dec. 28, 1991, Age 46

Related Article
Anderson's Story

Homeless and drunk, Anderson spent an afternoon inside a mall food court, sitting at a table and listening to music through headphones. A shopper allegedly told two off-duty police officers working as security guards that Anderson had a bulge under his coat that looked suspiciously like a gun. The off-duty officers, David Russell and Daniel Pearson, watched Anderson for more than 20 minutes until he walked outside. They yelled for him to drop to his knees. Anderson paused, then knelt on the cement walkway. When the officers continued to yell, he reached for the radio on his belt to turn down the volume. Russell opened fire, wounding Anderson in the thigh and elbow. After putting handcuffs on Anderson, the officers discovered that he was carrying only a radio and a bottle of shoe polish. Neither officer provided information about the person who made the gun report.


Rodney L. Simms

Died:
Sept. 28, 1991, Age 23

Related Article
Rodney Simms's Story

 

Simms was shot by police officers on two occasions. The first time was by narcotics officers who threw him to the pavement and shot him repeatedly with a BB gun, two times in the head and six times along the spine, court records show. Simms, who did not have any drugs on him and had not committed a crime, escaped with minor injuries. The officers, Clarence W. Voundy and George B. Steffey Jr., were the first in Prince George's to be charged with a crime for using excessive force. They were convicted of misdemeanors and lost their jobs. Simms sued the department and the county, settling for an undisclosed sum, but he complained that officers continued to harass him.

Three years to the day after he was first shot, he had a fatal run-in with officers. On that evening, Simms exchanged angry words with officers who had stopped some people across from Simms's house. Simms and a friend were searched. Officer James L. Bowman said that during the encounter, Simms took a swing at Bowman's partner. In response, Bowman said, he hit Simms with a flashlight in the back and between the shoulder blades. Bowman said Simms then swung around with something in his hand that appeared to be a weapon. Bowman shot Simms, who collapsed and died on the front steps of his house. Police said Bowman shot Simms once in the chest. No weapon was found at the scene, but later that night Bowman produced one at police headquarters. He said Simms dropped the knife after the shooting and that he picked it up because he was afraid Simms might grab it again. Witnesses disputed that account, saying they never saw a knife. To the contrary, one of Simms's friends said, after officers hit Simms in the face, Simms tried to run inside his house but was shot several times in the back. An autopsy showed Simms had a laceration on his forehead and had been shot 10 times, including five in the back. His blood tested positive for PCP, a hallucinogen. No fingerprints were found on the knife.


Bobby Philip Thomas

Wounded:
Sept. 21, 1996, age 41

Related Article

Clifton Lyons was taking his daily walk in the early morning when he heard a noise coming from a construction trailer. Thinking it was a burglary, he called police from his cell phone and hid behind some bushes to see what would happen. When officers arrived, they spotted Bobby Thomas standing next to the trailer. Officer Dwayne W. Stevenson yelled for Thomas to stop, but Thomas took off. As the officers closed in on Thomas, Lyons said Stevenson fired three shots at Thomas's back. Thomas was hit once, underneath his right shoulder blade. The bullet pierced his right lung and passed through his chest. In a written statement, Stevenson said he fired in self-defense after Thomas reached into his waistband and spun around. No weapon was found and evidence confirmed that Thomas was shot in the back. Stevenson was exonerated. He declined to comment for this series.


Robert Coates II

Wounded:
Feb. 27 1997, Age 19

Related Article
More About Coates

Officers Wendell Charles Brantley and David J. Adams were on patrol when they heard a gunshot just before 11 p.m. Moments later, a brown Buick LeSabre driven by Coates came barreling around the corner. Police say the driver stuck a silver handgun out the window and fired several times at the officers. When he missed, the officers said he veered the car and tried to run them over. The officers said that in response, they fired 29 rounds at the Buick until it crashed into the porch of a house. One bullet struck Coates in the eye. Evidence showed that Coates squeezed the trigger only once and that the cartridge was found one block away. Coates said that he fired once into the air to scare off muggers before driving off. He said he didn't see the officers and didn't know who was shooting at him.


Archie Elliot III

Died:
June 18, 1993, Age 24

Related Article
More about Elliott

Elliott was driving home from his construction job when he was stopped by Officer Jason Leavitt of the District Heights Police Department. Elliott failed a sobriety test and was arrested. Leavitt called for backup then frisked Elliott, who was clad in only denim shorts and tennis shoes with no socks. Officer Wayne Cheney of the Prince George's Police Department responded to the call for backup. The officers placed Elliott in the front seat of a police cruiser with his wrists cuffed behind his back, buckled his seat belt, and closed the door with the windows rolled up. Moments later, they said, they noticed Elliott had pulled a handgun out of his shorts and was pointing it at them. Cheney and Leavitt fired 22 shots, striking Elliott 14 times. Police say they pried a snub nose revolver out his hands, which were still handcuffed. It was unloaded and investigators did not check the gun for fingerprints. Elliott's parents filed a civil lawsuit accusing police of planting the gun to cover up an execution. The lawsuit was thrown out of court before it could go to trial.


Louis Eugene Randall, Jr.

Wounded:
May 11, 2001, Age 37

Related Article

Louis Eugene Randall, Jr., was in his mother's Fort Washington home chopping strawberries when he began to plunge the paring knife into a plastic sugar container. Winona Randall knew her son, a manic-depressive, needed his medicine and called police for assistance. When officers arrived, she explained that he needed some medication and implored officers not to hurt him. Officers, she said, reassured her that they wouldn't hurt Louis Randall and that they would use non-lethal force to subdue him if needed. By the time it was over, police cars crowded the street, police snipers had shot out street lamps, two military-style assault vehicles were on the scene, a helicopter hovered above and Louis Randall had been shot eight times. Police said that Randall refused to drop a "13-inch kitchen knife" and lunged at them, forcing an officer to open fire.


Dwayne Keo Waiters

Died:
Oct. 9, 1997, Age 21

Related Article
Audio: 911 call

 

Waiters's relatives asked a neighbor to call police after he started behaving strangely. Although Waiters had no history of mental illness or drug use, family members grew concerned after he ran in and out of the house, poured water on his head and smashed a window. By the time officers arrived, Waiters was being held down by his father, Robert, who was trying to keep him from hurting himself. In the confusion, officers initially pointed their guns at Waiters's father. As officers ordered Waiters's father to sit on the couch, Dwayne Waiters ran into the kitchen. Officers said he reached for a knife and lunged at them. The officers opened fire shooting him a dozen times. Detectives found a butter knife on the kitchen counter. Waiters's fingerprints were not on it.


 

R.O. Norman

Wounded:
April 20, 1995, Age 33

Related Article

That morning, R. O. Norman called his therapist to say that he had taken a lethal dose of Lithium and that he had a gun. Concerned, she called police. When Norman returned to his parents' Beltsville home, police blocked him in with their cars as he tried to drive away. Norman said he got out of his vehicle with his arms in the air. Police yelled at him to drop his weapon even though he had none, he said. Finally, Norman said, he jumped up and down and yelled at police to shoot him. Cpl. Richard Hart, Jr., responded with a single shot into Norman's belly. Police said the shooting was justified. Hart did not respond to The Post's request for an interview.


Philip Mickens

Wounded:
Jan. 7, 1999, Age 39

Related Article

Cpl. Donald Bell said he was parked outside a liquor store when he felt something hit his patrol car. When he got out of the car, Bell said, he was struck on the head with a "log" by Phillip Mickens. Bell, who said he feared for his life, opened fire, hitting Mickens five times. As a result of the shooting, Mickens spleen had to be removed and his right arm dangles uselessly at his side. He is currently in the Crownsville State Hospital to determine if he is competent to be prosecuted on an assault charge.


Julie Marie Meade

Died:
Nov. 21, 1996, Age 16

Related Article
Audio: 911 call

A suicidal Julie Marie Meade called police from her mother's apartment in Laurel. It was the fourth time in two months that she told police she wanted to die. This time, Meade, who suffered from disabling panic attacks, told a dispatcher that once officers arrived, she was going to point a gun at them, so they would shoot her. When officers arrived, Meade walked outside holding a pellet gun and shouted for police to shoot. Officers yelled at her to stop, but she kept walking and officers shot her. She was fatally wounded, hit 15 times in the head, arm and leg.


Nathan Strother

Died:
Dec. 12, 1992, Age 25

Related Article

Strother's mother called police, telling them her son was depressed, suicidal and had threatened family members. Upon arrival, officers found Strother sitting in a running, locked car in the driveway. Strother gunned the engine and turned up the radio, ignoring officers' attempts to get him out of the car. Cpl. Ray A. Evans said he was standing in front of the driver's side when the vehicle lurched forward. He said he jumped off the driveway and fired, hitting Strother in the chest. Strother died the day before before his 26th birthday. A witness to the shooting said no one was standing in front of Strother's car when he was shot. In 1995, the county settled a federal lawsuit filed by the family.


Prince Carmen Jones, Jr.

Died:
Sept. 1, 2000, Age 25

Related Article
More about Jones

Jones, a Howard University student, was on his way to his fiancee's house in Fairfax when he noticed a Mitsubishi Montero was following him. The driver of the vehicle was Carlton B. Jones, a narcotics detective in plain clothes. Prince Jones tried to evade the officer's vehicle by pulling into a driveway and turning off his headlights a block from his destination. What happened next is unclear, but Det. Jones fired 16 rounds into Prince Jones vehicle, hitting him five times in the back. Officials later confirmed that Det. Jones had mistaken Prince Jones for someone else.


Gregory Allen Cooper

Died:
Dec. 9, 1999, Age 39

Related Article
More about Cooper

Police chased Cooper, a suspected burglar, by foot until he climbed into an unlocked police cruiser that had been left with the key in the ignition. Officers said they opened fire to save the life of an officer who was wrestling with Cooper as the suspect put the car into reverse. They fired 66 rounds. Cooper was hit in the head and abdomen, according to an autopsy report.


Christopher Dreher

Died:
Oct. 6, 1993, Age 22

Related Article
More about Dreher

Dreher was sitting in a parked car talking to his girlfriend when three officers approached him. The officers attempted to arrest him after he refused to roll down his window to accept a ticket for driving with a suspended license. Officers said Dreher tried to run over Officer Samuel M. Smith, who was standing in front of the car. Smith fired a single shot into Dreher's chest. Witnesses said that Dreher was rude and uncooperative but that officers tried to smash the car's windows when Dreher refused to take the ticket. Witnesses said Smith was standing next to the car, not in front of it. A photograph of the Acura shows a bullet hole above the side-view mirror on the driver's side.


Cantrice Love

Wounded:
Dec. 1, 1996, Age 20

Related Article
More about Love

Dante Lacount Stewart and his girlfriend, Cantrice Love, were sitting in a parked car near her Oxon Hill home when officers approached them. As Officer James F. Williams Jr. was leaning inside the car, police said, Stewart hit the gas pedal, dragging Williams for several feet before Williams fell to the ground. As Stewart sped off, Williams and Officer Jason T. Rorick and Cpl. Anne M. Nicodemus fired 30 rounds at the car, according to court records. They missed Stewart but hit Love in the left shoulder. Love sued the police, alleging "deliberate malice" by officers. Her lawsuit is pending.


Bruce Asmora Scott

Wounded:
November 3, 1999, Age 37

Related Article
More about Scott

Police said Officer Aaron L. Smith shot a ''robbery suspect'' who flashed two steak knives and threatened his life. The man, however, was a homeless, paranoid schizophrenic named Bruce Asmora Scott. Smith confronted Scott as he crouched in a courtyard at the New Carrollton Mall with a black bag and a gray folding suitcase stuffed with his belongings. Smith was later awarded the Medal of Valor for shooting Scott. In the retelling of the story during the award ceremony, police said Smith opened fire when Scott ''produced two large butcher knives'' when the officer encountered him and that Smith's action removed an ''armed and dangerous individual from the community.'' Scott was convicted of of first-degree assault and sentenced to six years in prison.


Clarence Edward Stewart

Died:
May 19, 2000, Age 51

Related Article

Officer Stephen A. Vitko asked Stewart to accompany him back to a Target store to apologize to a manager who had accused Stewart of bothering customers. Witnesses say the officer screamed at Stewart to stay out of the store, grabbed and shook him without provocation or resistance. Police and witnesses agree that Vitko led Stewart back to the store. When Vitko and another officer, Troy L. Wallace, emerged from a security office with Stewart, witnesses said Stewart was handcuffed and bound by his ankles, bleeding profusely from his head. As police placed him face down on the floor, he lost consciousness. He was pronounced dead an hour later. Police said Stewart died from an enlarged heart, and an autopsy report also shows he had heart disease and high-blood pressure. But the autopsy report also said Stewart's heart failure was triggered by "blunt force injuries," including three deep head wounds and lacerations to his back and right shoulder. The report indicated that several bruises showed that Stewart had been injured after he was put in restraints. The medical examiner ruled his death a "homicide." Vitko and Wallace did not respond to letters or telephone calls seeking comment.


Thomas Charles Cox

Died:
Nov. 6, 1997, Age 44

Related Article

Cox's death has never been disclosed publicly by police. The state attorney's office, which is supposed to conduct an investigation when someone dies in police custody, said it has no records of his death. Cox's autopsy states that he "collapsed while being arrested." The autopsy found two antidepressants in his blood and noted that he had "history of psychosis." The autopsy did not explain wounds between Cox's fingers or bruises on his wrists. A medical examiner ruled Cox died when his heart began beating out of control while struggling with police. One of the officers involved in the arrest was Lt. Joseph E. Cox, Thomas Cox's brother. According to Alice Cox, their mother, she called Joseph to take Thomas to a psychiatric hospital. Thomas refused, she said, and after officers restrained him to prevent him from leaving, he sat on the ground and had a heart attack. She said Thomas was not handcuffed and that excessive force was not used.


Charles Ivy Huddleston

Died:
April 26, 1999, Age 27

Related Article

In September 1998, police declared Huddleston a hero for rescuing a police officer trapped in a burning car. Seven months later officers tried to arrest Huddleston as he stood in line at a McDonald's. Officers said Huddleston had been driving a Jeep that was stolen during a carjacking. They said he fled the McDonald's, jumped back into the Jeep and sideswiped several cars trying to get away. According to officers, Huddleston sustained minor injuries during the arrest so they called for an ambulance. When he arrived at the hospital 30 minutes later, he was shackled facedown on a stretcher with a sheet wrapped around his bleeding head. The emergency room staff said he was jerking his body and spewing obscenities. Doctors and medics spent 35 minutes trying to treat him before he died. Police said that Huddleston appeared to be under the influence of drugs and that his heart gave out. An autopsy found no illicit drugs or alcohol in his blood. The autopsy showed he had a bleeding swollen eye socket, deep contusions on the forehead, scalp and nose, and abrasions on the wrists and ankles. Police deny restraining Huddleston in the hospital. According to hospital records, however, officers put a mattress on his head while he was shackled to a gurney. The state medical examiner ruled that Huddleston's heart failed while he was being restrained partly because of an "anomalous" coronary artery. A pathologist hired by Huddleston's family found blood in his lungs and wrote that he died because he was unable to breathe.


Elmer Clayton Newman, Jr.

Died:
Sept. 22, 1999, Age 29

Related Article
Audio: 911 call

Newman died in the back of an ambulance before it could leave the parking lot of the police station in Oxon Hill. Police say Newman was a cocaine abuser and had violently resisted arrest and injured himself. A witness says officers stood around laughing as Newman, who was barefoot, handcuffed and soaked from the rain, struggled to breathe. An autopsy report showed Newman had two fractured ribs and two broken bones in his neck. Officers gave conflicting statements about Newman's arrest and injuries. The state medical examiner ruled Newman's death a homicide. A grand jury concluded that police had used excessive force but was unable to indict anyone because it couldn't determine which officers had injured Newman's neck, according to the state's attorney. A lawsuit is pending in federal court.


Michael W. Murphy

Died:
Aug. 31, 1996, Age 26
Related Article
More About Murphy

Murphy was standing in his bedroom, naked and unarmed, when police shot him in the chest. Earlier, Murphy left his apartment wearing no clothes and banged on doors until neighbors called police. A Laurel officer, Sgt. Richard Speake, responded. Laurel police said that when Speake arrived, Murphy was attacking his roommate and then attacked and overpowered the officer. Speake fired a single bullet into Murphy's ribs. Murphy's roommate said he did not attack her or the officer. Laurel Police Chief Roy P. Gilmore said Murphy "lunged" for Speake's weapon but did not actually touch him. An autopsy report revealed that after Murphy was shot, he was struck by a metal police baton at least 11 times on the back, arms, legs and shoulders. The autopsy said Murphy's wrists were cut, indicating part of the struggle occurred after he was handcuffed. The state medical examiner said the gunshot wound and "blunt force injuries" caused Murphy's death.


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