City approves $750K settlement in cop lawsuit
Baltimore’s Board of Estimates agreed to spend $750,000 Wednesday to settle a lawsuit involving a city police officer convicted of lying about an altercation that resulted in two men being jailed and charged.
The settlement, approved unanimously, will close out a lawsuit filed by Zayne Abdullah and Donnell Burgess against the Baltimore Police Department stemming from a January 2020 incident involving Sgt. Welton Simpson that spawned a viral video and initially drew condemnation from city and state officials.
The clip, which depicted only part of the incident, showed Simpson being kicked by laughing bystanders and Burgess trying to pull Abdullah free of Simpson. Simpson told responding officers that Abdullah spat in his face and pushed him first.
At the time Gov. Larry Hogan, then Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young and State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby decried the behavior in the video, while Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said the officer had done nothing wrong.
But criminal defense attorneys Natalie Finegar and Hunter Pruette mounted a campaign on behalf of the men to show the full picture after obtaining body camera footage, and called on prosecutors to clear their clients.
The body camera showed Simpson bumping into Abdullah, saying “Move out the [expletive] way.” Abdullah said, “Bump me? Next time I’m going to hit you [expletive] in your mouth.” Simpson responded: “Go ahead, I’ve got enough for everybody.”
Abdullah continued to express his displeasure with the officer when Simpson pushed Abdullah and said, “Get out of my face!”
A second clip, filmed by bystanders, showed Abdullah on the ground saying he can’t breathe. Simpson’s arm was on his neck, and people around them could be heard yelling, “Let him go!” Attorneys said that clip put Burgess’ attempts to free Abdullah in a different light.
Simpson was eventually indicted on charges of making a false statement and misconduct, and charges against Abdullah and Burgess were dropped. Simpson pleaded not guilty but was convicted, receiving a suspended jail sentence and placed on six months probation. Records show he is appealing the conviction.
Abdullah and Burgess were initially charged with assaulting a police officer. They were jailed during the early days of the pandemic; Burgess missed the birth of his daughter and Abdullah lost his job making $17 an hour at H&S Bakery.
A lawsuit on behalf of the pair was filed in U.S. District Court in June. In addition to the altercation with Abdullah and Burgess, the suit raised questions about why Simpson remained on the force following a 2010 domestic violence incident in which a woman filed a protective order claiming he raped her while holding her at gunpoint with his service weapon. The suit folded those allegations into the department’s broader, long-standing problems tackling misconduct.
City attorneys recommended the Board of Estimates settle the case to avoid a “potential adverse jury verdict.” Deputy Solicitor Ebony Thompson noted the lawsuit asked for $7 million in damages
Thompson noted that Simpson remains on the police force. He was convicted of a misdemeanor prior to changes in the state Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights, and under the prior law the city was not able to immediately terminate him, she said.
As of this summer, Simpson was assigned to administrative duties pending the completion of an internal investigation. There were additional delays in that probe, Thompson said. While the department’s Public Integrity Bureau opened the investigation into Simpson when he was indicted in 2020, the board did not finalize charges until Nov. 3. He was not served with those charges until Nov. 30, she said.
Finegar, an attorney for Abdullah, said Wednesday the settlement was “more than appropriate.” She noted the case arose just ahead of the pandemic and Abdullah spent months in jail as others accused of more serious offenses were released due to COVID.
“I appreciate that they promptly dismissed it, but to put it in that context of a young man without much contact with the criminal justice system at all being put in jail and not released during a time when people with violent crimes were being released, it’s a little too late,” she said.