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An audit of past rulings by a controversial medical examiner found that 36 cases of police custody deaths deemed accidents should have instead been classified as homicides. The comprehensive review of 87 determinations regarding deaths resulting from police use of force stretched back 16 years from 2003 to 2019. It highlights the often questionable conclusions the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) used to determine that police were not culpable. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, whose agency managed the audit of former Chief Medical Examiner Dr. David Fowler, said the audit was disturbing and that the reclassified cases warranted further scrutiny. **At The Real News Network, we refuse to back down! ** We’re committed to telling the stories that corporate media ignores—stories from Gaza, from Baltimore, from labor picket lines and prison yards, and from communities organizing for justice. But we can’t do it without you. **Please don't wait. Show your support today!** **DONATE NOW** **Get the truth that fuels action directly into your inbox. Sign up for The Real News. Join the movement. Don’t wait—** **Subscribe now**! Sign up “These findings are of great concern and demand further review,” Brown wrote in the preface of the report. The report is simply an audit. It does not formally reclassify any of the cases that have been reviewed. Normally, changing an autopsy determination requires a hearing in front of a judge. The push to examine Fowler’s past rulings came after he testified at the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin was charged with murder after video surfaced of him sitting on George Floyd’s neck for roughly nine minutes. Floyd later died at a nearby hospital. The case sparked outrage and nationwide protests. Fowler testified that Floyd did not die from positional asphyxiation, the result of the downward pressure of Chauvin’s knee. Instead, he attributed carbon monoxide poisoning from a nearby tailpipe to be the primary cause. The testimony sent shockwaves through the medical community. An open letter penned by roughly 450 medical experts called for a review of Fowler’s rulings in light of his testimony. The pushback prompted the state to undertake a comprehensive audit, the findings of which were released in a 90-page report. But prior to Fowler’s testimony and the subsequent review of his rulings, family members of victims and activists had been calling attention to his determinations. TRNN also consulted an independent pathologist to review Fowler’s cases. Among them is the death of a 19-year-old Eastern Shore resident, Anton Black. Black died after police chased him to his mother’s home. The body camera showed officers lying atop the former track star, who weighed 160 pounds at the time of the arrest. Fowler ruled the death an accident due to an underlying heart abnormality and bipolar disorder, a decision his family said did not reflect the evidence. The Real News consulted noted pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht to review the case. Wecht said Black’s death was not the result of an accident, but police use of force. “This is a classical case of positional asphyxiation in which somebody is placed face down, and then someone leans on his back, presses down on his back, and he’s tasered, after several minutes, and then he goes limp,” Wecht told TRNN. Black’s family eventually won a $5 million settlement of a wrongful death suit against the state. Sonia Kumar, senior staff attorney at the Maryland chapter of the ACLU, who was lead counsel on the lawsuit, released a statement calling the audit result long overdue. “This report vindicates what family members and communities—mostly Black and Brown Marylanders—have been saying for decades: that the entire system has been complicit in making police-involved deaths seem inevitable,” Kumar wrote. The audit also includes other cases covered by TRNN. Among them is the death of Tyrone West. West was pulled over in 2013 in North Baltimore after officers stopped his car for a broken taillight. Officers dragged him out of his vehicle and beat him for roughly an hour. West died later at a nearby hospital. Fowler ruled his death was accidental, the result of dehydration and an underlying heart condition. Prosecutors also declined to press charges. But Tyrone’s sister Tawanda Jones fought back. She started a series of protests known as West Wednesdays that have continued every week since her brother’s death in 2013. Jones noted that the first protests were staged outside Fowler’s office. “That’s where West Wednesday started, at his office. And now the right is finally coming out. I am just overwhelmed.” Now she is calling for the prosecutor to reopen her brother’s case. “Yes absolutely, I am going to keep pushing forward.” While Fowler’s police custody cases were more widely scrutinized, TRNN has also explored how his less notable rulings negatively impacted Baltimore residents. In our Hidden Victims series, we examined how Fowler’s unusual classification of large numbers of deaths as unclassified or ‘undetermined’ impacted cases with suspicious circumstances that might have warranted further investigation. See the latest episodes... ## Police Accountability Report _Police Accountability Report_ , hosted by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis, is a weekly show that seeks to expose and hold to account one of the most powerful institutions in this country—the police. The series examined multiple cases, including the death of a woman who was found buried under a pile of mulch, which were ruled undetermined. It also explored how investigations into the past deaths of women who suffered from addiction might have overlooked evidence of foul play. Critics say Fowler’s misclassifications were purposeful, with the aim to lower the number of homicide cases in a city where political careers are made or broken by the murder rate. Other sources say the primary goal of his questionable findings was to protect police officers from accusations of wrongdoing. But families like Tawanda’s are simply seeking closure and justice. “I’ve been fighting for my brother and other families for so long. I just want the truth to be known.” ## ****Meeting the Moment: Defending Independent Journalism**** Friends, I don’t need to tell you that we’re in the middle of a world-historical crisis. In fact, we are standing now at the point of convergence of multiple crises, and we need to act accordingly. The only way out is through, and the only way through is together. “If we fight, I can’t promise we’ll win, but if we don’t fight, I can promise we’ll lose.” Change isn’t going to be handed to us from the elite power brokers and donors controlling the political parties that got us here, and it sure won’t come from the same oligarchs and zealots pillaging and plundering our societies, our democratic institutions, our economy, and our planet. _If we expect to see a future that’s still worth living in, then poor, working-class, and oppressed people across the global underclass will need to fight for it. And TRNN will be there on the front lines of the fight with cameras and microphones._ Continuing our longstanding commitment to making media that empowers people and movements to make change, TRNN is responding to these societal crises by expanding our coverage with a slate of new and returning programs that uplift the voices and struggles of working people around the world, challenge power, and amplify resistance to exploitation, injustice, and domination. From _Rattling the Bars_ , _Police Accountability Report_ , _The_ _Marc Steiner Show_ , _Inequality Watch_ , and _Working People_ to _Solidarity Without Exception_ , _Stories of Resistance_ , _Edge of Sports_ , and more, we are launching groundbreaking new series while reviving and elevating the storytelling formats of fan-favorite shows to engage and activate more people around the world, pierce the algorithmic noise and misinformation, and cut through the corporate media silence. This isn’t just about expanding our content—it’s about deepening our commitment to using our resources and talents as journalists and media makers to serve, inform, connect, and empower people at a time when the fate of our society and our planet hangs on the people’s willingness and ability to fight for them. We’re levelling up to meet the moment, telling the stories that corporate media won’t touch and amplifying the voices of those fighting for justice. Between the techno-fascist, oligarchic takeover of America’s government, the rise of far-right authoritarian governments around the globe, intensifying climate chaos, war, imperialist invasions, attacks on democratic rights, and unsustainable levels of inequality, I can’t tell you I know how all of this will end. I don’t know what will happen in the next 4, 8, or 50 years because that story has yet to be written by people of conscience and our actions. _What happens next depends on what we all do now_. But I know where we’ll end up if we do nothing. As the old adage goes, “If we fight, I can’t promise we’ll win, but if we don’t fight, I can promise we’ll lose.” **Maximillian Alvarez, Editor-in-Chief** **_But we can’t do it without you._** Independent journalism like ours doesn’t get funding from billionaires, corporate advertisers, or political parties. **We rely on people like you** —people who believe in the power of media to inform, mobilize, and challenge those in power. If you believe in a future where journalism serves the people—not the elite—then we need your support today. **DONATE NOW and help us build the media we need for the world we deserve.** $5 $10 $25 $100 $250 $500 OTHER... _**Even more ways to give...** _ ### _Related_ Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. Close window X ## Republish this article This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. We encourage republication of our original content. Please copy the HTML code in the textbox below, preserving the attribution and link to the article's original location, and only make minor cosmetic edits to the content on your site. # Audit finds dozens of police custody deaths in Maryland should have been ruled homicides by Stephen Janis and Taya Graham, The Real News Network May 15, 2025 <h1>Audit finds dozens of police custody deaths in Maryland should have been ruled homicides</h1> <p class="byline">by Stephen Janis and Taya Graham, The Real News Network <br />May 15, 2025</p> <p class="has-drop-cap">An audit of past rulings by a controversial medical examiner found that 36 cases of police custody deaths deemed accidents should have instead been classified as homicides. </p> <p><a href="https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/Reports/051525_OCME_audit_report_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The comprehensive review of 87 determinations regarding deaths resulting from police use of force stretched back 16 years from 2003 to 2019</a>. It highlights the often questionable conclusions the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) used to determine that police were not culpable. </p> <p>Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, whose agency managed the audit of former Chief Medical Examiner Dr. David Fowler, said the audit was disturbing and that the reclassified cases warranted further scrutiny. </p> <p>"These findings are of great concern and demand further review," Brown wrote in the preface of the report. </p> <p>The report is simply an audit. It does not formally reclassify any of the cases that have been reviewed. Normally, changing an autopsy determination requires a hearing in front of a judge.</p> <p>The push to examine Fowler's past rulings came after he testified at the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin was charged with murder after video surfaced of him sitting on George Floyd's neck for roughly nine minutes. Floyd later died at a nearby hospital.  </p> <p>The case sparked outrage and nationwide protests.  </p> <p>Fowler testified that Floyd did not die from positional asphyxiation, the result of the downward pressure of Chauvin's knee. Instead, he attributed carbon monoxide poisoning from a nearby tailpipe to be the primary cause. </p> <p>The testimony sent shockwaves through the medical community. An open letter penned by roughly 450 medical experts called for a review of Fowler's rulings in light of his testimony. The pushback prompted the state to undertake a comprehensive audit, the findings of which were released in a 90-page report. </p> <p>But prior to Fowler's testimony and the subsequent review of his rulings, family members of victims and activists had been calling attention to his determinations.<a href="https://therealnews.com/are-the-deaths-of-these-black-men-in-police-custody-really-accidents" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> TRNN also consulted an independent pathologist to review Fowler’s cases</a>. </p> <p>Among them is the death of a 19-year-old Eastern Shore resident, Anton Black. </p> <p>Black died after police chased him to his mother's home. The body camera showed officers lying atop the former track star, who weighed 160 pounds at the time of the arrest. Fowler ruled the death an accident due to an underlying heart abnormality and bipolar disorder, a decision his family said did not reflect the evidence. </p> <p>The Real News consulted<a href="https://therealnews.com/surveillance-video-independent-forensic-expert-raise-fresh-questions-about-anton-blacks-death-in-police-custody" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> noted pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht to review the case. Wecht said Black's death was not the result of an accident, but police use of force.</a> </p> <p>"This is a classical case of positional asphyxiation in which somebody is placed face down, and then someone leans on his back, presses down on his back, and he's tasered, after several minutes, and then he goes limp," Wecht told TRNN. </p> <p>Black's family eventually won a $5 million settlement of a wrongful death suit against the state. Sonia Kumar, senior staff attorney at the Maryland chapter of the ACLU, who was lead counsel on the lawsuit, released a statement calling the audit result long overdue. </p> <p>"This report vindicates what family members and communities—mostly Black and Brown Marylanders—have been saying for decades: that the entire system has been complicit in making police-involved deaths seem inevitable," Kumar wrote. </p> <p>The audit also includes other cases covered by TRNN. </p> <p>Among them is the death of Tyrone West. West was pulled over in 2013 in North Baltimore after officers stopped his car for a broken taillight. Officers dragged him out of his vehicle and beat him for roughly an hour. West died later at a nearby hospital.</p> <p>Fowler ruled his death was accidental, the result of dehydration and an underlying heart condition. Prosecutors also declined to press charges.  </p> <p>But Tyrone's sister Tawanda Jones fought back. She started a series of protests known as West Wednesdays that have continued every week since her brother's death in 2013. </p> <p>Jones noted that the first protests were staged outside Fowler's office. </p> <p>“That's where West Wednesday started, at his office. And now the right is finally coming out. I am just overwhelmed.”</p> <p>Now she is calling for the prosecutor to reopen her brother's case. </p> <p>"Yes absolutely, I am going to keep pushing forward." </p> <p>While Fowler's police custody cases were more widely scrutinized, <a href="https://therealnews.com/baltimore-trash-chute-deaths" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TRNN has also explored how his less notable rulings negatively impacted Baltimore residents</a>. </p> <p>In our Hidden Victims series, we examined how Fowler's unusual classification of large numbers of deaths as unclassified or 'undetermined' <a href="https://therealnews.com/hidden-victims-a-womans-death-ignored" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">impacted cases with suspicious circumstances that might have warranted further investigation</a>. </p> <p>The series examined multiple cases, including the death of a woman who was found buried under a pile of mulch, which were ruled undetermined. <a href="https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/the-land-of-the-unsolved/episodes/The-behind-the-scenes-story-of-how-a-mercurial-doctor-pushed-Baltimores-homicide-investigations-into-a-swamp-of-uncertainty-e1u81mu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">It also explored how investigations into the past deaths of women who suffered from addiction might have overlooked evidence of foul play</a>. </p> <p>Critics say Fowler's misclassifications were purposeful, with the aim to lower the number of homicide cases in a city where political careers are made or broken by the murder rate. Other sources say the primary goal of his questionable findings was to protect police officers from accusations of wrongdoing. But families like Tawanda’s are simply seeking closure and justice. </p> <p>“I’ve been fighting for my brother and other families for so long. I just want the truth to be known.”</p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://therealnews.com/audit-finds-police-custody-deaths-in-maryland-homicides">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://therealnews.com">The Real News Network</a> and is republished here under a <a target="_blank" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/cropped-TRNN-2021-logomark-square.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://therealnews.com/?republication-pixel=true&post=334150&amp;ga4=G-7LYS8R7V51" style="width:1px;height:1px;"><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: "https://therealnews.com/audit-finds-police-custody-deaths-in-maryland-homicides", urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <script id="parsely-cfg" src="//cdn.parsely.com/keys/therealnews.com/p.js"></script></p> Copy to Clipboard 1

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