Jury awards $250K to teen after off-duty cop pointed firearm at him
A federal jury has awarded $250,000 in damages to a Howard County man who said an off-duty Baltimore Police officer pulled a gun on him for no reason in 2017, when he was 16 years old.
The jury found against Officer Damond Durant late Wednesday on the claim of gross negligence by a private person.
Jawone Nicholson and a friend were sitting under a community carport in Howard County, trying to keep themselves warm while waiting for an afterschool pick up van on a cold day in November 2017, when Durant approached them, according to the 2020 lawsuit filed by Nicohlson. Wearing street clothes, Durant demanded to know why the teens were in the area.
Nicholson’s explanation that he lived nearby and was waiting on a ride did not satisfy the off-duty officer, the complaint said. As Nicholson tried to walk away to call his grandmother, Durant pulled out a gun and pointed it at the teen.
“Telling Black boys they don’t belong and terrifying them at gunpoint to force them from view when they’ve done nothing wrong is a reprehensible exercise of police privilege,” one of Nicholson’s lawyers, Cary Hansel, said in a statement. “The jury sent a message to young men like Mr. Nicholson: You do belong and though you still have to fight for it, there is justice for you.”
Durant’s lawyers did not respond immediately to a request for comment Thursday.
According to the lawsuit, Baltimore Police internal affairs botched its investigation into Durant’s actions that day. Investigators filed a disciplinary action after the statute of limitations, leading a Baltimore Circuit Court judge to throw out the misconduct cases against Durant and 11 others with allegations upheld by internal affairs because investigators missed the one-year deadline.
Durant, who joined the department in 2001, is still employed by Baltimore Police, assigned to “education and training,” a spokesperson said. Durant made about $116,000 in fiscal year 2022, the most recent period for which salary data is available.