The mother of a slain Randallstown teen is calling for a federal civil rights investigation into the June 13 death of her son.
Chris Brown, mother of Christopher Brown, said in an interview Thursday that she plans to ask the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice to review the actions of the Baltimore County Police Department and State's Attorney's office.
"I want to take this out of the hands of the Baltimore County Police Department and the state's attorney's hands," said Chris Brown. "I'm trying to take this to the federal level."
Christopher Brown died June 13 of asphyxiation, according to police, citing a state medical examiner's report.
James Laboard, an off-duty police officer, was by a Baltimore County grand jury. He was after a brief hearing Thursday afternoon.
Laboard is accused of chasing Christopher Brown down after someone threw a paving stone at a door to his Randallstown home, about a block away from where Christopher Brown lived. Police said Laboard found Christopher Brown hiding in some bushes and an altercation ensued that resulted in the teen's death.
Chris Brown, the mother of the teen, said she believes her son's neck was broken.
"Christopher was dead already" by the time resuscitation effort began, Chris Brown said.
The charges against Laboard don't go far enough, she added.
"I didn't ask for the death penalty, I didn't ask for life in prison," Chris Brown said. "I asked for a charge of murder."
Russell Neverdon, a Baltimore attorney representing the Brown family, said he expects to complete and file the complaint no later then Friday afternoon.
"We're talking about an excessive use of force and a 4th Amendment violation," Neverdon said. "[Christopher Brown] was seized and his life was taken and that was a clear violation of his liberties."
A police department spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger declined to comment on the request for an investigation.
"We will continue to cooperate and inform the Brown family on what is going on in their case and continue to work to keep the lines of communication open," Shellenberger said.
OH it woulkd be allovetr the national news, there would be all kinds a of pomp and circumstance ( or should they be circus-stance ) Miss Brown, surley yub are devasted,,,,,, I m sorry to espouse the objective view......... why? why was he out hanging with these problem guys ? forgive me as I start to realize how you must feel,,,,,,,,, No I cant really but Im trying,,,,,,,,,, point is its sad no mattrer what the combination of races involved ,,,,,,,,,,,,, just saying in any event we dont need Sharpton to tells us that should tha have been the case,,,,,,,,,, we are all humans n o one deserves to be treated any less,,,,,,,,,,,, and this is not the 1960's we are all much more adbaced in humanitarian compassion these days,,,,,,,,,, we all should pray this never happens again,,,,,,,,,,,,, as for Laura you make some good points., but understand this lady lost her son ,,,,,,,,,, Im sure she wants the truth to prevail
they said if he had not been there throwing rocks this would ot have happend how do you interpret that to mean he deserved to die ? what ensued after he threw the rocks at the man and/or his property thats what precipated his death that we know is when the death occured, was it intentional is the question, no one said he deserved to die
first of all this is miles from the inner harbor and secondly no one is pleased,,,,,,,,,,, dont even try to lay that stigsam on those wo wnat a peaceful community
Do you remember the case about a Charles village man who used a sword to kill an intruder in his home? The resident had been burglarized two or three times before. The burglar had no weapon and did not threaten the resident. The resident/burglary victim was charged with murder. I don't believe County law is any different than city law in this case. PS, it makes no difference if the boy was running with the wrong crowd. Guilt by association is not in the law books, only in our minds.
Full disclosure. As an adult I have been an officer in Citizens On Patrol. As a teenager I threw a snowball at a house door and ran. I was caught by the owner. (I'm not proud of it, but I also removed lights from outdoor Christmas decorations and smashed them in the street.) I'm thankful those owners didn't resort to physical retribution.
Let's get the fact before we pass judgement, it seem the people was in the wrong, becasue this child was not causing problems but his friends were, and since then the police has been charged with manslaughter. Let's just stick with the facts.