The city Board of Estimates agreed Wednesday to pay $150,000 to settle a civil suit alleging police brutality. It was the second time the city paid to settle a suit involving the same officer and City Council President Jack Young was not happy.
“I think they should alert me and the comptroller when officers have multiple cases against them,” Young complained after the board’s meeting.
The panel agreed to pay Marque Marshall $150,000 to settle a case he brought after Detective Calvin Moss shot him in his left hand during a January 2013 incident. Marshall, who needed to have two fingers reattached after the shooting, sued the city for $2 million.
According to The Baltimore Sun, the city paid $100,000 to a cafeteria worker in 2012. She alleged Moss wrongfully arrested her while she was selling church raffle tickets.
Neither Young nor Comptroller Joan Pratt knew about that settlement.
Young said he learned of the earlier settlement when the paper contacted him.
In her weekly news conference, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called charges her administration withheld information from Young or anyone “a made up controversy.”
“Right now, it seems like a distraction from the real work that’s going on to improve police-community relationships,” she said.
She said The Sun got information on the earlier case because reporters asked for it and added her administration has always provided information to Young and his office when he asked for it.
“To say that I didn’t ask for it, I shouldn’t have to,” Young shot back. “They should disclose it to me anyway.”
Young said that knowing about the previous case would not have influenced his decision. He said he approved the settlement with Marshall because of the injury suffered. In the past, he has voted against settlements, arguing that officers who are “acting out of the norm of their jobs and hurting people; violating people’s civil rights” should be held liable for damages.
Young added the city should take some of the lawsuits to court; something he says he pushed for in the past but was rejected by the law department for fear of losing because of a jury’s mistrust of police officers.
Rawlings-Blake said on WYPR’s Midday program her administration will make information about past or pending lawsuits available to Young since he is asking for it.