Man dies in custody of Baltimore County Police, medics; Attorney General’s office investigating

Dan Belson

Baltimore Sun

January 11, 2024

A man died at a hospital after being taken into custody in Owings Mills by Baltimore County Police Wednesday night, prompting an investigation by the Maryland Attorney General’s office.

Police said in a Thursday news release that officers responded at around 11 p.m. Wednesday to the intersection of Rosewood Lane and Reisterstown Road for a call regarding a “suspicious person.”

They said officers arrived and found a man, who they said “appeared to be under the influence and causing a disturbance,” and his family members were attempting to de-escalate the situation.

He was taken into custody, and officers “attempted to render aid and requested medics” due to his condition, police said. The man was taken to a hospital, where he died.

The Attorney General’s office’s Independent Investigations Division is conducting an inquiry into the man’s death, police said.

Police and the investigations unit, which probes deaths in police custody throughout the state, did not immediately release the age or name of the man on Thursday. Usually, that information is provided to the public within 48 hours of a death, and body camera footage is released within 20 days.

The man’s death initiated the Attorney General’s office’s second investigation this week into a Baltimore County Police interaction — the division is also probing a shooting Tuesday afternoon, where it said three officers fatally fired at a 29-year-old who pointed a gun at them at a gas station about five miles south on Reisterstown Road.

The unit of the Attorney General’s office established in 2021 has previously noted it is only permitted by law to investigate “the actions of the law enforcement officers and not the emergency medical personnel” in an in-custody death.