A push to reexamine the police-involved death of Tyrone West in 2013 has officials at odds over who should do the work, underscoring the challenges families seeking justice can face even when they have convinced a prosecutor that questions remain unanswered.
Maryland
Maryland prosecutors privately clash over 2013 police-involved death
![Maryland prosecutors privately clash over 2013 police-involved death Maryland prosecutors privately clash over 2013 police-involved death](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/IA7JOBMKOXYI273X43SBLZ3S6Y.jpg&w=1440)
Despite the recent missives, there has been no resolution on how or whether an investigation will proceed.
Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan J. Bates (D), who has jurisdiction, says the case merits review but a conflict will prevent his office from handling it. Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown (D), who will soon have authority to prosecute new police-involved fatalities, is not embracing Bates’s request to initiate an investigation and instead is questioning why the local prosecutor is not taking steps to work around the potential conflict.
Jones said she is grateful that Brown and Bates are having a discussion about the case, a development that she has never witnessed before. But, she added, “while people are debating my brother is still laying in the ground without any accountability.”
Awaiting examination are independent autopsies Jones provided that contradict the state’s original findings, and inconsistencies in statements following the incident that Bates, in a July 6 letter to Brown, said helped convince him that an investigation should be pursued.
The autopsies ordered by West’s family determined that he died of positional asphyxia, Bates’s letter states, not a heart condition as an original review concluded. The initial autopsy was conducted under the leadership of then-Maryland medical examiner David Fowler, whose office’s work on people who died in law enforcement custody is undergoing an unprecedented third-party review. It is not clear whether West’s case is among those selected for additional scrutiny as part of the probe.
Police at the time said that when West was told to get out of the car, they saw a bulge in his sock that they suspected was drugs, and a chase and altercation ensued. Jones said police created a false narrative to paint her brother as someone officers feared. In his letter to Brown, Bates cited depositions provided by Jones that indicated that there were no drugs found at the scene or on materials tested.
After failing to gain traction, Bates late last month sent another letter to the state prosecutor’s office, which investigates misconduct of public officials, requesting that it review the case. In the July 28 letter, Bates tells State Prosecutor Charlton T. Howard III that the attorney general said “he is not inclined to investigate this matter.”
Spokesmen for the state prosecutor’s office and the attorney general’s office declined to comment on Bates’s letters or say whether either would investigate West’s case.
“My biggest thing is I’ll just be glad when the dots are connected. And if they get it to the state prosecutor or whoever, this needs to be investigated — like 10 years ago,” Jones said.
While Brown’s office received fresh powers to intervene in officer-involved deaths amid sweeping laws aimed at improving police accountability, the legislation is intended to be prospective, said Sen. William C. Smith (D-Montgomery), chairman of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.
“Our focus was ensuring from passing the legislation moving forward we had a more accountable process,” he said.
Brown this week did offer to help Bates’s office work around any potential conflict in a letter questioning why Bates is trying to hand off the case.
“Mr. West’s family has endured a truly tragic event, and I support the State’s Attorney’s Office in upholding its obligation to investigate the matter fairly and fully,” Brown wrote in a letter emailed to Bates on Thursday. Brown offered to assist Bates “in determining whether you have an actual conflict of interest that might prevent your entire office from investigating the case.
“If you’d like, we can also assist in creating or vetting a deconfliction policy to address the potential conflict that you believe might prevent you from investigating the death of Mr. West, and any future potential conflicts that routinely may arise in an office of your size,” he said.
In an interview this week, Bates’s chief of staff, Deputy State’s Attorney Angela G. Galeano, said a member of his office is a close relative of someone who worked on the original investigation into West’s death.
Jones, West’s sister, has spent the past decade calling on the state’s attorney or the attorney general to launch a new investigation into her brother’s case. She has repeatedly maintained that West, who was stopped by two plainclothes officers driving an unmarked car and later surrounded by more than a dozen officers, was killed by police.
Gregg L. Bernstein, the Baltimore state’s attorney at the time of West’s death, did not charge the officers. Marilyn Mosby did not reopen the case when she was state’s attorney.
At the time, an autopsy by the Maryland medical examiner’s office concluded West’s cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia from cardiac conduction system abnormality complicated by dehydration during police restraint. Fowler drew scrutiny for deeming the cause of death for George Floyd undetermined in court testimony for Derek Chauvin, linking it to heart disease and drug use rather than to his oxygen being cut off from the pressure of Chauvin’s knee.
Advocates who have pushed for changes in state laws to ensure transparency and police accountability say the responsibility ultimately rests with Bates.
“The public needs to understand that, when they are serious about it, local prosecutors always have the authority to pursue justice for survivors of police violence — and for those who did not survive,” Sonia Kumar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Maryland, said in an email.
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Maryland
Watch Aidan Chiles, Nick Marsh talk MSU win over Maryland
![Watch Aidan Chiles, Nick Marsh talk MSU win over Maryland Watch Aidan Chiles, Nick Marsh talk MSU win over Maryland](https://spartanswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/09/USATSI_24177867.jpg?w=1024&h=576&crop=1)
Michigan State won a big time road game over Maryland, improving their record to 2-0, and giving head coach Jonathan Smith his first Big Ten conference victory as the head man of the Spartans.
A big part of that win was the connection between Aidan Chiles and Nick Marsh, and more specifically their 77-yard touchdown connection tying the game 24-24 late in the fourth quarter.
Chiles and Marsh spoke to the media after the team’s win, which you can watch via Spartan Mag on YouTube:
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on X @Cory_Linsner
Maryland
16-year-old arrested after 15-year-old fatally shot in Maryland high school bathroom
![16-year-old arrested after 15-year-old fatally shot in Maryland high school bathroom 16-year-old arrested after 15-year-old fatally shot in Maryland high school bathroom](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/09/07/19/SEI220433454.jpg?quality=75&width=1200&auto=webp)
A 16-year-old student at a high school in Maryland has been detained after he allegedly shot and killed a 15-year-old student in one of the school’s bathrooms.
The name of the suspect has yet to be released. The victim, Warren Curtis Grant, died following the shooting at Joppatowne High School. Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler made the announcement at a press briefing.
The suspect fled the scene but was detained close by just minutes later.
“He has yet to be charged but will be charged, and at the time those charges are preferred as an adult, we will release the name of the suspect,” Gahler told the press, according to The Guardian.
The sheriff added that his office has handled more than 10 cases in the last two years “where the suspect was either the victim, witness or the suspect in an incident handled by the Harford county sheriff’s office.”
![A member of the Harford County Sheriff's department tries to clear the way for an emergency vehicle as it heads toward Joppatowne High School after a shooting at the school, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Joppatowne, Md](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/09/07/19/SEI220433454.jpg)
While the sheriff’s office told the public to avoid the area after the shooting, it said that it was an “isolated incident, not an active shooter.”
An “active shooter” situation refers to when a suspect is firing against everyone they see rather than targeting a particular person.
An area church was used as a reunification center for students and their parents. The school is located about 20 miles northeast of Baltimore.
Gahler noted that more than 100 law enforcement officials responded to the scene.
The fight at Joppatowne High School took place just two days after the shooting at a high school outside Atlanta, Georgia where a 14-year-old shot and killed four people.
Maryland
How to watch Michigan State vs. Maryland (9/7/24): TV channel, kickoff time, live stream
Michigan State got the job done in its season opener, but it wasn’t pretty as it hung on at home against Florida Atlantic. Now, it has to head on the road to open Big Ten play in what promises to be a tougher test.
· Watch the Michigan State Spartans on FuboTV (free trial)
· Watch the Michigan State Spartans on Sling
· Watch the Michigan State Spartans on DirecTV Stream
· Visit MLive’s Betting Home for latest odds & sportsbook promos
Michigan State is 1-0, but the road gets tougher now. The Spartans go on the road and start Big Ten play early in Week 2 with a trip to Maryland. The Terrapins have a new look this year without quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa but looked strong in their season-opener against Howard last week.
· Who: Michigan State at Maryland
· When: 3:30 p.m.
· Where: SECU Stadium, College Park, Maryland
· Twitter: Follow Matt Wenzel
· Live updates: Beginning at 2:30 p.m. at mlive.com/spartans
· Latest line: Maryland -9.5
TV Network: Big Ten Network
Streaming options:
· FuboTV is offering $30 off the first month for all U.S. plans. Sign up to get your favorite TV shows, live sports events, and much more
· Sling currently has an offer of $20 for the first month of subscription and has streaming coverage of live sports, news and entertainment.
· DirecTV Stream offers live sports, news and on demand TV.
Five must-reads before kickoff:
* Michigan State lost two members of its secondary, Dillon Tatum and Khalil Majeed, to long-term injuries in its season opener. The team is turning to some new faces to fill in the holes from those injuries.
* Alex VanSumeren was once Michigan State’s top-rated recruit, but he’s been seldom seen on the field due to injuries. Now, though, he’s healthy and making his mark on the Spartans’ defensive line.
* Aidan Chiles’ 10-completion, two-interception performance in Michigan State’s season-opener was his “floor,” according to offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, who has a plan to improve the quarterback’s performance going forward.
* Jonathan Smith had a name for Week 1 in college football: overreaction Saturday. He’s cautioning fans not to put too much stock into an opening performance that likely underwhelmed many.
* The run game and discipline are two of Matt Wenzel’s five things to watch in this week’s matchup.
Michigan State
* Passing: Aidan Chiles 10-14, 114 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
* Rushing: Kay’ron Lynch-Adams 9 rush, 101 yards, 1 TD
* Receiving: Michael Masunas 2 rec., 29 yards, 0 TD
* Tackles: Angelo Grose 12
* Sacks: Khris Bogle 1.5
* Interceptions: Grose, Nikai Martinez 1
Maryland
* Passing: Billy Edwards Jr. 20-27, 311 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
* Rushing: Roman Hemby 14 rush, 66 yards, 1 TD
* Receiving: Tai Felton 7 rec., 178 yards, 2 TD
* Tackles: Glendon Miller 6
* Sacks: None
* Interceptions: Ruben Hyppolite II, Miller 1
Friday, Sept. 6
Western Illinois at Indiana
Duke at Northwestern
Saturday, Sept. 7
Texas at Michigan, noon (FOX)
Rhode Island at Minnesota, noon (Peacock)
Bowling Green at Penn State, noon (BTN)
Akron at Rutgers, noon (BTN)
Iowa State at Iowa, 3:30 p.m. (CBS)
Michigan State at Maryland, 3:30 p.m. (BTN)
Eastern Michigan at Washington, 3:30 p.m. (BTN)
South Dakota at Wisconsin, 3:30 p.m. (FS1)
Kansas at Illinois, 7 p.m. (FS1)
Colorado at Nebraska, 7:30 p.m. (NBC)
Western Michigan at Ohio State, 7:30 p.m. (BTN)
Boise State at Oregon, 10 p.m. (Peacock)
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