Family of 19-year-old Black man who died in Maryland police custody settles lawsuit

Three Maryland towns will pay $5 million to the family of 19-year-old Anton Black, a Black former high school athlete who died in 2018 after white police officers pinned him for almost six minutes.

A witness called 911 on Sept. 15, 2018, when she saw Black, who had recently been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, “roughhousing” with a 12-year-old boy, according to a lawsuit filed by his family. The responding officers, from Centreville, Greensboro and Ridgely police departments, tased Black, then pinned him to the ground by the shoulder, legs and arms outside his mother’s home in Greensboro.

The mother of his unborn child arrived at the house as he was dying.

Anton Black was 19 when he died. (The Associated Press/)

An autopsy ruled his death sudden cardiac arrest, with the medical examiner citing stress from the physical exertion, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Local police declined to press charges against the officers, so Black’s family filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Baltimore in December 2020, accusing the white cops of excessive force and lying that Black was high on marijuana and exhibiting “superhuman” strength.

As part of the settlement, the three police departments will be required to adopt a new use-of-force policy that focuses on preventing deadly force and train police officers on responding to mental health emergencies and de-escalation techniques.

In this Jan. 28, 2019, file photo, Jennell Black, mother of Anton Black, looks at a collection of her son's belongings at her home in Greensboro, Md. (Patrick Semansky/)

“I had to watch those police officers kill my son, while he pleaded for his life and called out to me,” Black’s mother, Jennell, said in a statement Monday.

“There are no words to describe the immense hurt that I will always feel when I think back on that tragic day, when I think of my son. No family should have to go through what we went through. I hope the reforms within the police departments will save lives and prevent any family from feeling the pain we feel every day.”