Baltimore to pay $400,000 settlement to man struck by police car as a teen

Baltimore will pay $400,000 to a man who was run over by a police car while being pursued as a suspect in an armed carjacking.

Devonte Jett was hit by a Baltimore Police cruiser that was chasing him in 2021 in connection with the carjacking of a pizza delivery driver’s car. Jett, 16 at the time, suffered lung and pelvis injuries, a likely concussion, and long-term memory loss as a result of the crash, according to a lawsuit he filed against the city.

Baltimore’s Board of Estimates unanimously approved a settlement with Jett on Wednesday.

Stephen Salsbury, an attorney for the city, said Jett was charged with armed carjacking and “a number of other charges” following the chase and crash. Because he was charged as a juvenile, court records related to the case are not publicly available, Salsbury said.

Jett sued the city last year, alleging excessive force and negligence by the Baltimore Police Department. He also argued that the incident was part of a pattern of improper conduct by city officers. The lawsuit, which cited numerous past incidents of force by Baltimore Police, was filed several months after a video of a Baltimore officer in a police cruiser chasing a man went viral last year.

According to Jett’s lawsuit, police pursued a vehicle stolen from a Pizza Boli’s driver in West Baltimore to the 1000 block of North Fremont Street, where the driver fled on foot. Police said they saw Jett in the driver’s seat.

Jett’s lawsuit said he was on nearby Riggs Avenue when police began chasing him both on foot and in a department-issued SUV. Jett, who argued that he fled because police pointed a gun at him, ran to a grassy area behind a rowhome, the lawsuit states. Officer Steven Reed then hit Jett with the SUV and ran over him.

Jett, who did not regain consciousness until he was in an ambulance, was handcuffed and searched by Officer Brandon Butt. According to Jett’s lawsuit, body camera footage shows police did not initially find a gun and continued searching for a weapon. Fifteen minutes later, a third officer, James Jones, found a BB gun in Jett’s pants, the lawsuit alleges.

Multiple requests for body camera video of the incident filed between 2022 and 2025 yielded some footage, but no footage from body cameras worn by the three officers, according to the lawsuit.

A response filed by city attorneys to Jett’s lawsuit prior to the settlement argued that the crash was Jett’s fault.

“The resulting contact between Sgt. Reed’s vehicle and Mr. Jett was not an act of malice or excessive force, but rather a tragic accident caused by Mr. Jett’s own actions — namely stepping directly into the path of a patrol vehicle that was attempting to provide a lawful roadblock," wrote attorneys Brent Schubert and James Corley.

The city’s response does not address Jett’s suggestion that the gun police said they found on him was not his.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Salsbury said determining excessive use of force is “highly subjective,” but the city’s police department does have guidelines.

City Council President Zeke Cohen, a member of the spending board, questioned whether a stun gun could have been used to resolve the incident.

“I don’t know that any of the officers would have been in position to use that,” Salsbury said.

Salsbury said that there are “ongoing” disciplinary proceedings against Reed, the officer who hit Jett, related to the incident. He has been suspended with pay since January 2025 due to a separate case, officials said.

Comptroller Bill Henry questioned how the disciplinary proceedings against Reed have stretched on for so long.

“That’s at least a year and a half we’ve been paying salary, and having to pay additional overtime to have other officers to cover his spot,” Henry said.

Salsbury said the city has a backlog of more than 800 disciplinary cases against police officers that trial boards are currently working to address. The system has been slowed by minor complaints using the same disciplinary process as more extreme issues.

“If a member of the public complains that one of the officers ran them down with a car, that should be prioritized over any lesser issues,” Henry said. “If instances like this aren’t automatically and structurally expedited as part of the process, that’s a failure of the process.”