Family of autistic Columbia man killed by police sues Howard County

The family of Alex LaMorie,the autistic man fatally shot by Howard County Police at a Columbia apartment complex in March, announced Thursday morning that they are suing the county and the responding officers in federal court.

LaMorie, 25, was holding a kitchen knife while experiencing a mental health crisis in the early hours of March 1 when Pfc. Joseph Riebau, Officer Cody Bostic and Officer Joel Rodriguez shot him outside Columbia’s newly opened Patuxent Commons, a complex dedicated to supporting adults with autism and other disabilities.

The lawsuit alleges that the police officers’ actions violated LaMorie’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. It also claims wrongful death, negligence and gross negligence.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

“Alex’s preventable and senseless fatal shooting has impacted every part of our lives — leaving indelible, enduring trauma and grief,” Jill Harrington, LaMorie’s mother and a plaintiff in the case along with his estate, said in a statement. “In Alex’s memory, this lawsuit is both a quest for accountability and a way to effect meaningful change.”

LaMorie’s family is being represented by law firms Brown, Goldstein & Levy of Baltimore and Tornatore & Zafiropulos of Crofton.

“Alex’s killing by Howard County police officers was a preventable tragedy, and it was caused by the county’s violation of federal disability law,” Jamie Strawbridge, a partner at Brown, Goldstein & Levy, said in a statement.

Strawbridge said the lawsuit seeks accountability and to ensure that “people experiencing disability-related mental health crises receive help — not an unnecessarily escalated, lethal response.”

In July, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown declined to file charges against the three police officers who shot and killed LaMorie.

Minutes before police arrived at the apartment complex, LaMorie called 911 to report he’d been a victim of an extortion scam, county officials have said. He told a county dispatcher that he’d exchanged personal information and photographs with someone who claimed to be a young woman. LaMorie then said he received a threat that if he did not pay money, all of his exchanges with the person would be released, according to county officials.

Police body camera footage, released by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division in late March, shows LaMorie barefoot, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, as he holds a kitchen knife. Four police officers then draw their weapons on him outside Patuxent Commons shortly after midnight.

The officers tell LaMorie to “drop the knife” and “can you please drop the knife, we can talk about this.”

LaMorie responds that he can’t, and walks toward the officers with the knife still in his hand. An officer shouts, “Please don’t make me do this. Please don’t make me do this.”

“We’re getting cornered,” another officer says.

Officers then open fire, and LaMorie falls to the ground. They continue to tell him to drop the knife. LaMorie groans and an officer attempts to handcuff him.

According to police, the officers attempted lifesaving measures, but LaMorie was declared dead shortly thereafter.

This story will be updated.