By Yvonne Wenger, The Baltimore Sun
1:55 p.m. EDT, July 16, 2014
Baltimore officials agreed Wednesday to settle two
lawsuits involving alleged police misconduct, costing the city a combined
$88,500.
The city's spending panel, the Board of Estimates,
approved a settlement for $62,000 after a group of men say they were falsely
arrested and subject to an unwarranted use of force by a police officer inside
a city parking garage in June 2012.
The board also approved the settlement of a case for
$26,500 involving a husband and wife and their friend who alleged that they
were wrongly arrested around 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 27, 2012 while a Baltimore club
was closing. in the settlement were "consistent with medical expenses and
the time of detention."
In the first case, Bolaji Obe, Akinola Adesanya and
Ademuyiwa Okupe returned to the Water Street public garage at 2 a.m. on June 17
to get their car when Det. Michael McSpadden approached them, according to a
memo of settlement agreement.
McSpadden allegedly accused Obe of urinating in
"his garage," and then demanded Obe show him his ID, which Obe says
he did.
McSpadden then allegedly told Obe to come with him
into an office in the garage, ordering the others to wait outside. Okupe said
he tried at that point to find a police supervisor, but was cuffed by
McSpadden, the memo says.
Next, the plaintiffs allege McSpadden cuffed Adesanya
and "forcibly pushed him to the ground."
McSpadden alleges that Obe began yelling and screaming
in an unfamiliar language and threatened to kill him. The officer said he
warned Obe that he could be arrested if he didn't stop yelling.
Meanwhile, McSpadden said Adesanya was on the curb
yelling, and that the behavior of the men caused crowd to form around the
office, according to the memo.
McSpadden says when he turned around, Obe jumped out
of his seat with clenched fists. McSpadden then struck Obe on the left side of
this face to defend himself, the settlement says.
The plaintiffs deny taking any action that would have
warranted the use of force.
The men each sought $75,000 from the city for their
injuries and because of the arrests.
"Because of the starkly disputed factual and
legal issues in the case, and given the uncertainties and unpredictability of
jury verdicts, the parties propose to settle this matter for a total sum of
$62,000," the memo says.
In the second case, Leah Forde, her husband, Keiron
Forde, and their friend Gareth Adams allege that they were leaving the Select
Lounge when they were falsely arrested, according to the settlement.
There were a number of officers in the club when the
lights came on, and police began to order everyone out. The groups says it was
part of the first wave of people to exit the club, and stood about 20 feet from
the entrance, directly next to a parking lot.
The memo says that Adams was speaking to a friend who
worked for the club about settling up their tab after the group had been served
in the club's VIP space.
Officer Kimberly Darden then allegedly approached the
group and asked them to leave. The plaintiffs say they did not realize the
officer was speaking to them because they were among a crowd of people, and
they continued to talk as they started to move toward their car, according to
the settlement.
Darden then arrested Adams for failing to obey a lawful
order and for disorderly conduct. When Keiron Forde says he questioned why
Darden arrested Adams, she arrested him for the same reasons as his friend,
according to the memo.
Next, Darden arrested Leah Forde after the officer had
ordered her to leave, and Leah Forde questioned the officer about how she was
supposed to leave when the vehicle was blocked by a police van.
The group, which sought $150,000 in damages, was taken
to the city's Central Booking, where they were held until the evening.
The suit was settled because of conflicting factual
issues and "legal concerns about the lawfulness of the arrests," the
memo says.
City Solicitor George Nilson said the city decided to
settle rather than take the cases to a jury trial, which the city "sought
to avoid."
