From [HERE] and [MORE] Baltimore Police have launched a criminal investigation into Friday's in-custody death of a 46-year-old Black man in East Baltimore, who police initially said was believed to have died from choking on drugs. 

Relatives of the man and eyewitnesses have come forward to say the man, identified by family as Anthony Anderson, was assaulted by police. Police confirmed that they have interviewed those witnesses, and say a preliminary autopsy shows that the man did not die from choking on drugs. People who say they witnessed his death — including his family members — believe he died from injuries sustained while being arrested.

Witnesses say he was leaving the OK Liquor Store on East Biddle street when they observed plainclothes officers run up behind him and slam him to the ground. They say he went limp, and believe he already was dead when an ambulance picked him up.

In a particularly dramatic recounting, Gordon claimed that Anderson was raised in the air "as high as a basketball hoop" and thrown to the ground. Gordon said a crumpled and dying Anderson turned to his mother and said, "God has taken me now. My work here is done. Take care of my family."

Jennifer Cheese, 45, who passed through the vacant lot before the rally, said she saw officers grab Anderson from the back and "tussle with him a little bit." She said they handcuffed him and sat him upright, but that he was slumped over and unresponsive.

"They slammed him, but it wasn't on his head," said Cheese, who said she knew Anderson through a drug treatment program. "They're doing their job, but they took it over the top. That's too much aggression for one pill."

Quintin Harris, 53, who said he saw the incident and had given a statement to police, said Anderson was lifted off the ground, though not as high as Gordon's assessment, and then kicked. "It was messed up," Harris said.

Officials acknowledged that he had injuries, including at least one broken bone, but have not said what caused them.

"We have taken statements from witnesses that say he was beaten - we have those complaints, and we are investigating this as a criminal case," said Guglielmi. "He did not die of a broken neck, but we're not sure what the cause of death is. The medical examiner's office ... is waiting on toxicology findings before making a ruling."

The incident occurred at about 7:20 p.m. Friday at the intersection of East Biddle and North Montford streets. 

"There are some sharp differences between the accounts of the eyewitnesses and what we're hearing from the police," the Rev. C.D. Witherspoon, local leader of the Southern Leadership Christian Conference, told The Sun on Saturday. 

But an account that describes Anderson being manhandled by police has whipped through the neighborhood, and those who have had encounters with police say it fits into their perception of overly aggressive drug police they refer to as "knockers."

 

 

Activists leading a rally on Tuesday — the Rev. Cortly "C.D." Witherspoon and Sharon Black, who represents All People's Congress — said they want to use the incident to step up their ongoing protests against what they say is police brutality and corruption.

They've called for residents across the city to attend Anderson's funeral and march through the streets afterward. Small children held signs that read "Jail Killer Police."

"We are Anthony Anderson!" Witherspoon bellowed. "Anybody who wants to tell us it isn't murder is a liar!"

Eastern District Maj. Melvin Russell, a pastor who has a reputation for his strong rapport with the community, was among several police officials who attended the rally and spoke privately with the family.

Attorney J. Wyndal Gordon, who represents the family, later spoke directly to Russell as a crowd of about 80 people stood by and dozens more watched from afar. Gordon told the commander that any further discussions with the family would "have to get through him."

"Something has to be done. I'm sure you're sick of it," he said. "I can see it in your eyes."

Robert F. Cherry, the president of the city police union and a former homicide detective, said those speaking out in the Anderson case should wait for detectives to gather evidence. Cases involving police, he said, are investigated far more aggressively than others due to the intense attention.

"This is a tragic incident. Someone's life was lost, but you have to let the investigation take place," Cherry said. "Last time I checked, plenty of our cops have been indicted when it's found they did something wrong."

The case will be an early test for Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts, who was sworn in Tuesday, pending City Council confirmation hearings next month. In addition to Anderson's death, the city has seen 22 people killed in the month of September, and killings are now 5 percent ahead of last year's pace.

In this corner of East Baltimore, distrust of police runs high.

Even as the activists and Anderson's family prepared to hold the rally, an ambulance drove past to a shooting two blocks away in the 1400 block of N. Milton Ave. A woman approached a reporter as the helicopters swirled overhead, claiming that police had shot someone.

They had not, according to police at the scene. But the rumor had legs, as others could be overheard discussing it. "This is a war zone," one man blurted out.

 

The intersection at Biddle and Montford is often lively, with groups of people congregating on nearby front steps. The overgrown lot where Anderson died is thick with discarded liquor bottles. A woman who did not want to give her name due to safety concerns, said that the area is a known spot for buying heroin. Up the street, she said, is where "ready" — street slang for cocaine — is peddled.

Almost everyone lingering in the area said they had been victims of police brutality.

"They don't have no respect for nobody," said John Melton, 42. "They can do or say whatever they want."

A man who identified himself as Anderson's brother-in-law recalled Anderson's last moments alive. That morning, he said Anderson had visited his mother, and was delighted when a relative gave him a peach to eat. Later, he took his 2-year-old granddaughter to get ice cream.

Anderson struggled with drugs for years, according to those who knew him. Gordon said his drug use was intermittent, but relatives said that was irrelevant.

His children, Anthony Jr., 25, Yvonne, 24, and Jean, 21, said he was a good father who visited them at their grandmother's house every morning. They lost their mother 14 years ago, Jean Anderson said.

"He might use, but he don't sell them," Anthony Jr. said. "That doesn't give them no right to kill an individual."

Anderson's mother, Yvonne Fletcher, sat on a folding chair and sobbed through the rally, as Gordon called the case "one of the most egregious murders we've had in Baltimore City to date."

"I didn't want to come out here. I can see him laying there," Fletcher, 67, told a reporter, then turned to a daughter.

"I want to go, but they won't let me. Can I leave? Please take me in the house."