Advocates for an autistic Baltimore County man who was punched, shot and paralyzed over two encounters last year with Baltimore County Police are calling on the Maryland Office of the Attorney General to look into the incidents, as well as investigate whether there is a broader problem in how the county handles mental health crises.

At a news conference Wednesday, attorneys for 27-year-old John Haley, of Essex, played body camera footage from when police arrived after his mother called for help. Haley is agitated in both instances but pleads to be left alone as officers approach him.

In the first incident, police punched Haley in his head, causing it to hit the wall behind him. A few weeks later, Haley was holding a knife and isolated on a neighbor’s porch when officers shot him, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Attorney Thomas R. Bundy III said the police conduct displayed in body camera footage exhibits a “calamity of errors” that “exacerbated John’s condition.”

Haley’s parents, Tim and Helen Haley, sat at the news conference dabbing their eyes with tissues and holding hands. The room was decorated with photos of their son dressed in a tie and sitting with his dog.

“I did what I was told a good mother should do. ... I believed the system would keep him safe,” Helen Haley said. “Instead, I watched my trust shattered in real-time.”

The news conference came after Baltimore County prosecutors decided this week, nearly a year after the encounters, to drop four felony assault charges against John Haley that his attorney said never had merit.

Attorneys for Haley’s family pointed to other recent incidents of people suffering from behavioral crises being shot by police, in Baltimore County and other places, as underscoring the need for a broader review by the attorney general.

A recent review by Brown’s office found that since 2021, about 1 in 4 people killed by Maryland police was experiencing a mental health crisis.

“This is an epidemic, and it’s got to stop,” Bundy said.

Baltimore County Police spokesperson Joy Lepola-Stewart said in an email that the shooting of Haley remains under investigation. However, officers involved in the first incident, in which Haley was punched, were cleared of wrongdoing by a charging committee comprised of civilians, she said.

“The Baltimore County Police Department places a strong emphasis on training, accountability, and professional conduct to ensure members are equipped to respond appropriately in all situations,” Stewart said.

She noted that officers receive training in collaboration with the Baltimore County Department of Aging and Pathfinders for Autism.

Deputy State’s Attorney John Cox said in an email that “there was no basis for criminal charges” against officers in either incident.

The Office of the Attorney General did not immediately respond to a message.

At the news conference in their Baltimore office, Haley’s lawyers provided accounts of last year’s encounters using the camera footage and police documents. They said both encounters involved excessive force, breaches of de-escalation policy, and failures to use mental health resources.

The first occurred April 28, 2025, after police arrived at the family’s home to take Haley to the hospital for a court-ordered mental health evaluation. From inside a bathroom, Haley says he’s naked and yells that he wants to be left alone.

Officers use a key to open the door, startling Haley, who got up from the toilet to close the door, Bundy said.

Attorneys allege Officer Scott Burchett then punched Haley in the face with such force that his head struck and broke the drywall behind him. The body camera footage showed blood splattered on the floor, wall and bathroom vanity.

Still undressed and bleeding from his nose and mouth, Haley was handcuffed and taken to the hospital.

A police report says Haley picked up a blunt object and swung it at Burchett’s head and shoulder area before he was punched. Haley’s attorneys contend he threw a towel that missed the officer. The video is unclear.

The second encounter took place less than three weeks later, after Haley experienced another mental-health crisis and walked out of his house carrying a knife. Worried he might kill himself, his family called the county’s crisis hotline. But police, not a clinician-led mobile crisis team, were dispatched, attorneys said.

After officers located Haley walking on a nearby road, he drew the knife and yelled that he wanted to return home.

“I’m not dropping shit. This is for my protection. Don’t touch me, or I’ll fucking stab you,” Haley said. “Leave me alone. I’m not going to do anything.”

Officers followed Haley until he sat on a chair on his neighbor’s porch, then they surrounded him with their weapons drawn and ordered him to drop his knife. When he refused and stood up, an officer immobilized him with a Taser.

A moment later, while Haley was still stiff from the Taser’s impact, Officer Jalen Smith repeatedly fired his handgun, striking Haley in the abdomen, pelvis, back, thigh, buttocks and hand, the family’s attorneys say. He sustained severe injuries, including permanent paralysis, and will never walk again without assistance.

Attorney Jeremy Eldridge, who represented Haley in the criminal cases, said police alleged that Haley attacked officers with a knife. That wasn’t true, he said.

“There was no resisting arrest. There was no assault,” Eldridge said.

Haley still has several bullets in his body and requires additional surgeries. His recovery was complicated by the criminal charges filed against him, Helen Haley said.

“Our family has lived through a year of hospitalizations, surgeries and pain,” she said. “We have watched John fight to stay alive and learn to live with what they did to his body. ... And on top of that, we watched the state charge him as criminal for surviving.”

The attorneys said Baltimore County Police shot individuals experiencing mental health crises at least five times in 2025. John Haley was the only one who survived.

Earlier this year, a county officer punched Samuel “Big Sam” Brown during a welfare check, causing him to fall and crack his skull against the pavement. He sustained permanent brain damage and died last month.

A very similar incident to Haley’s shooting took place March 1 in neighboring Howard County. Officers there fatally shot 25-year-old Alex LaMorie, an autistic man who was expressing suicidal thoughts and carrying a knife.