Family of ‘Big Sam’ alleges civil rights violations in Baltimore County lawsuit

Two weeks after Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said his office would not prosecute Baltimore County Police Officer Derek Hadel for his role in Samuel “Big Sam” Elsworth Brown Jr.’s death, the Brown family’s attorneys have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the county demanding police reform.

Attorney Billy Murphy, who represented the family of Freddie Gray in a $6.4 million wrongful death settlement against Baltimore City, accused county police of using “excessive, disproportionate force” when Hadel confronted Brown on Feb. 16.

The lawsuit includes Monell claims, legal proceedings that allow people to sue local governments. The lawsuit lists the “horrible practices of the police department that stretch way back that show a pattern and practice of this very kind of conduct,” Murphy said.

Six months ago, someone reported Brown, 56, idling in his car at a Woodlawn intersection around 3:20 a.m. Body camera footage released in March by the attorney general’s office shows Brown — whom police said was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.26 — swatting away Hadel’s arm twice and swinging at him during a wellness check.

Hadel, 32, then shouts as he punches Brown twice in the face: “Get in your f---ing car, sir! Get in your car!”

Brown collapses onto the pavement and a pool of blood gathers at the back of his skull. He died 11 days later on Feb. 27 after sustaining permanent brain damage.

“His wellness check became his death sentence,” family attorney Malcolm Ruff said, “which is completely unacceptable.”

County spokesperson Erica Palmisano declined to comment and said that no one from Baltimore County can discuss the ongoing litigation.

After the attorney general declined to charge Hadel, police spokesperson Joy Lepola-Stewart said he “remains a dedicated and valued member” of the department.

Per department policy, a separate administrative review is pending, she added.

The Brown family’s attorneys said the case represents Baltimore County’s documented practice of police brutality.

“This case, it forces us to confront a fundamental question about justice in America,” Ruff said. “The question is, who deserves the benefit of police restraint?”

An unconstitutional pattern

Ruff, Murphy and fellow attorneys Jason Foster and Paris Holmes argue in a 52-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court that county officials are responsible for the department’s 50-year unconstitutional pattern of targeting Black residents.

“Sam’s death was a natural and foreseeable result of BCPD’s longstanding pattern and practice of violating citizens’ constitutional rights,” the suit says. “It was not the first time that a black man died at the hands of the police because of an accepted policy that black lives do not matter.”

Murphy said the attorneys are alleging Monell claims because they believe the county has failed to train, supervise and discipline officers for police brutality dating back to an incident reported by The Baltimore Sun in 1974.

That example outlines how police “using dogs and blackjacks” punished Black fans for a disturbance at a horse race that the fans did not cause. When those fans showed up at a police station to file charges against the officers, three of them were arrested.

Another account from 1984 says county police pulled over Steven Stuart, a Black city police officer. They held him up at gunpoint because his partner was wanted for a kidnapping charge — a charge for which he was later acquitted. When Stuart reported the incident, the county department charged him with filing false reports.

The majority of the incidents the lawsuit cites are recent, including an American Civil Liberties Union report that says county police officers killed 26 people from 2015 through 2023.

The lawsuit also notes that Baltimore County Police officers have been the subject of 10 lawsuits in the past decade, each of which accused department employees of illegal detention, unreasonable or excessive force, search and seizure, and more.

The suit accuses the county and Hadel of, among other things, wrongful death; deprivation of liberty; battery; gross negligence; and negligent hiring, training and supervision.

Each count asks the county to pay at least $75,000 in damages for a total of at least $675,000.

Hadel’s history

The Banner reported in April that Hadel, a nine-year veteran of the force, was under investigation for police misconduct previously, according to department records.

Those records show the internal affairs division — which investigates officers for misconduct, corruption and policy violations — received a complaint after Hadel was involved in a November 2023 car crash. No one was hurt, and Hadel was assigned to counseling.

Doug Jess, president of the county’s Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 4, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday, but previously said that Hadel acted appropriately in his encounter with Brown.

Ruff, Murphy and the rest of Brown family’s attorneys conducted an independent survey of other people Hadel had previously arrested and found that Hadel “brutalized other citizens, using force that far exceeded what was necessary or reasonable,” according to the lawsuit.

In one account, Hadel pulled over a Black man referred to by the initials “D.S.” during a traffic stop in September 2019 and insisted he could smell marijuana on D.S.

When the man tried to respond, Hadel repeatedly called him the N-word, saying “Shut up, n-----! We don’t believe anything you say.”

In another incident in May 2019, the lawsuit says, Hadel pulled over a woman and her Black fiancé, referred to by the intials “T.U.,” who was seated in the passenger seat. Hadel allegedly removed him and searched him until he found pills in his shoes.

The attorney general’s office also investigated Hadel in connection with the April 2024 pursuit on Interstate 695 that killed Dimeka Thornton. Hadel was cleared of wrongdoing.

In the attorney general’s declination report — adocument explaining why the attorney general decided not to pursue charges against Hadel for punching Brown — the office determined that none of the officer’s previous disciplinary or criminal records were relevant to its investigation, the report said.

What’s next?

Murphy said he expects the county to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Brown’s four children and Brown’s mother are representing the family in the lawsuit.

The family members and longtime friend and collaborator Roberto “DJ Quicksilva” Silva were all present for Tuesday’s news conference.

“I don’t really have anything to say honestly today, but justice for Big Sam,” Silva said. “That’s the only thing we’ve always wanted from day one, like I said, day one until whenever it happens. Me, his daughters, his sons, his kids, we’re not going to stop fighting for justice.”