By Dan Belson
Source The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
The Maryland Attorney General's Office on Tuesday released body camera footage from a January incident in Crofton in which an officer shot and killed a 20-year-old man after a confrontation with police.
The video documents the Jan. 30 encounter on Danville Court, where Anne Arundel County Police say shortly after 4 a.m., officers responded to a call from a woman who said her son, Dyonta Quarles Jr., had assaulted her and prevented her from leaving the residence.
While Quarles initially complied with orders to stay down, according to police, he then fought back and began to bite Anne Arundel County Police Officer J. Ricci as officers attempted to detain him, and Ricci fired his gun at Quarles.
The police department and the attorney general's office declined to state Ricci's first name. The police department and the local Fraternal Order of Police lodge declined to comment on the footage, citing the ongoing investigation.
The footage, which the Independent Investigations Division of the attorney general's office aims to release within 14 days of an incident, was delayed by more than a month, as investigators had to interview more witnesses, according to the office.
The first section of the 25-minute video, which includes graphic violence and expletives, shows the incident from Ricci's point of view, as he and two other officers entered the home and went upstairs to a bedroom where Quarles' mother was locked inside with her son. After police kicked in the locked bedroom door, Quarles initially laid face down on the floor, but proceeded to jump up and sat on a bed.
The officers then warned Quarles that he was "gonna get Tased." Quarles is seen in the footage charging at Ricci and striking him in the face several times as the sound of a Taser is heard.
Ricci suffered from a "traumatic brain injury and injuries to his face as a result of the assault," according to the attorney general's office.
Officers then got Quarles on the ground. After a pause, during which Ricci is heard breathing heavily, police started to place handcuffs on Quarles, but he began to struggle and then began to bite Ricci. Another officer deployed a Taser again.
"Shoot him! Shoot him! Shoot that m-------," Ricci said in the footage. Shortly after, three gunshots are heard. In footage from another officer's camera, Ricci is seen firing at Quarles' lower body at close range while his hand is stuck in Quarles' mouth.
Subsequent footage shows a bloodied Ricci crawling away from Quarles and falling to the ground, then being treated as other officers check Quarles' body for signs of life. Officers told Quarles' mother he was breathing at that point, but he was later declared dead at the scene. Ricci was taken to a trauma center in serious condition.
The attorney general's office has yet to complete its probe of the incident and forward the results to the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's Office, and did not say when that would happen. Since the attorney general's office became responsible for investigations into the use of deadly force by police in October, they have only completed one investigation, which was a fatal vehicle crash.
"These investigations are complex, and are expected to take months," said Thomas Lester, a spokesperson for the Independent Investigations Division of the attorney general's office.
As that office continues to investigate whether criminal charges should be filed against Ricci, a statewide civil rights committee is planning to review the footage and forward its recommendations for policy changes to Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, a Democrat, and County Police Chief Amal Awad.
The Caucus of African American Leaders' Public Safety Committee, which is made up of current and former law enforcement officers as well as citizens and activists, according to its leadership, will be reviewing the footage from the Crofton confrontation in which Quarles was killed. Quarles is Black.
"Our overarching goal is to bridge the relationship of community and police department, and criminal justice systems' executives," said Joshua Hatch, who chairs the committee. He said he plans to circulate the camera footage "as a priority" to hear policy recommendations from the group, which aims to "be a mediator" for community and police relations as a "seed of distrust" has been sown in recent years.
"One of the most pressing issues in America today is police and community relations," said Carl Snowden, a longtime civil rights advocate who is the convener of the Caucus of African American Leaders. He noted that the committee's members "have the expertise" in law enforcement needed to recommend policy changes.
"Transparency must be the hallmark of any police department," Snowden said.
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