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Judge affirms Baltimore officers' use of lethal force on mentally ill man

Baltimore Sun (MD) - 7/28/2015

July 28--A Maryland federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a mother who said police used excessive force when they fatally shot her mentally ill son after she called for help calming him down.

Marcella Holloman was representing herself in a lawsuit filed against the city and the police officers involved in the May 2012 fatal shooting of her son, 31-year-old Maurice Donald Johnson, during a children's birthday party in Northeast Baltimore.

Johnson was unarmed, but U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake said that 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, who could not find a lawyer to take the case and had petitioned the court to appoint an attorney, wrote in court papers that "there was absolutely no reason that two armed police officers cannot restrain one unarmed man." She said she had only called 911 in hopes of getting Johnson transported to a hospital for treatment, and that police had no probable cause to arrest him.

Johnson was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2009, and Holloman said that his behavior on several occasions required her to call police for help, according to court documents. 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 six-year-old granddaughter when a crash came from upstairs, according to court documents. Johnson had smashed his wall mirror and a 42-inch television, and Holloman decided he needed to go to the hospital.

"Upset by that statement, Johnson responded that she should call the police, as she had done previously, because he 'ain't going nowhere,'" Blake wrote in a summary of the case.

Holloman got the birthday party participants into a car, while Johnson ripped at the back door and later began tearing up a mattress.

Officer Paul Markowski was first on the scene, soon joined by Officer Gregory Bragg. Holloman said she told the officers not to shoot him but that using a Taser would likely work to calm him down.

The officers struggled to restrain Johnson but were unable, and he eventually pinned Markowski down on the floor. Bragg was unable to pull Johnson off, and drew his service weapon and fired multiple gunshots, according to the summary.

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, 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.

Blake said that though Johnson was unarmed, that did not mean he was unable to cause serious physical harm. He had "already violently damaged various household objects and fixtures," and Holloman had advised the officers that his erratic behavior would not stop. He ignored officers' pleas to stop and had punched at least one of them.

"These facts, considered together, render reasonable the officers' use of deadly force," Blake concluded.

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