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| Eight Officers Fired After Detainee Dies |
| By Washington Post |
| Published: 06/13/2005 |
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Eight Maryland correctional officers were fired late last week in connection with the death last month of a petty criminal during a violent confrontation at a pretrial detention center in Baltimore. State officials did not say what role each is alleged to have played in the May 14 death of Raymond Smoot, a detainee at the state-run Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center, a crowded facility that is one of the busiest booking centers in the country. Corrections authorities said officers called for assistance after Smoot, 51, defied orders to enter his cell. A struggle followed, they said, and Smoot was injured. The state medical examiner's office ruled the death a homicide, saying Smoot died of "multiple injuries." "This department does not and will not tolerate unnecessary or excessive use of force," Mary Ann Saar, secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said in a statement announcing the terminations. Officials declined to identify the officers, who ranged in rank from lieutenant to probationary employee, and none could be reached for comment. Messages left at the Maryland Correctional Law Enforcement Union, which represents at least some of the fired officers, were not returned. Kenya Kelly, one of Smoot's adult children, said she found little solace in the firings, which she said should have occurred "the day that my father was murdered, not a month later." Kelly said she is disappointed that an ongoing criminal investigation has not produced any charges. Smoot, who lived in Randallstown, Md., was arrested May 3 on a warrant charging him with missing a court date in late September, the latest in a string of relatively minor charges over more than two decades. He was held on $1,500 bond pending a June 2 court date. Kelly's attorney, A. Dwight Pettit, said other detainees say that Smoot was savagely beaten by a number of officers after a confrontation with two female officers. Once Smoot was down, Pettit said, officers kicked him in the head repeatedly, "like they were kicking a volleyball." One of Smoot's eyes was knocked from its socket, he said, and his face was left swollen and disfigured beyond recognition. Pettit said he has written and videotaped statements from one detainee who said he witnessed the confrontation. That detainee, who has since been released and lives out of state, did not return a phone call yesterday seeking comment. Prisons spokesman Mark Vernarelli has said state officials do not believe Smoot's death is attributable to shortcomings in training or to any other systemic failure but rather to a "lack of responsibility, and, worse, lack of regard for human life." |
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