Three deaths after police restraint in Frederick County misclassified, state audit finds

Yahoo

16-05-2025

The deaths of three men who died after being restrained by police in Frederick County should have been classified as homicides, an independent audit found.
The results of the audit, which focused on restraint-related death investigations conducted by the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner between 2003 and 2019, were announced by Gov. Wes Moore and Attorney General Anthony Brown in a joint press conference on Thursday.
Out of 87 restraint-related deaths reviewed by the auditors, four took place in Frederick County.
Three of the four — the 2007 death of Jarrel Gray, the 2007 death of Anthony Casarella and the 2018 death of Terrance Watts — were found to have been misclassified.
The fourth restraint-related death in Frederick County, the 2013 death of Robert Ethan Saylor, was correctly classified as a homicide, the auditors found.
Initially, the manner of death for both Gray and Casarella was listed as 'undetermined,' while the manner of death for Watts was listed as 'accident,' according to the audit report.
The Frederick News-Post previously reported that Gray, 20, died after a Frederick County Sheriff's deputy shocked him two times with a Taser, then handcuffed him face-down on the ground.
The deputy in Gray's case was Aresponding to a report of a fight in progress. The deputy shocked Gray after Gray appeared to disregard repeated commands to show his hands and lie on the ground, the News-Post reported.
A criminal investigation into Gray's death later found that Gray — who was deaf in one ear and hard of hearing in the other — was not wearing his hearing aids and, as a result, might not have heard the deputy's commands.
The official cause of Gray's death was not clear as of Thursday. The Frederick News-Post requested the information from the Office of the Attorney General, but a representative deferred to the Maryland Department of Health, which oversees the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Delirium as a cause of death
Casarella, 34, died after Maryland State Police troopers restrained him with handcuffs and plastic flexcuffs on his ankles during a ride from a Mount Airy residence to the Frederick County Adult Detention Center.
Casarella had contact with police after he approached a stranger's home and asked to use the telephone because his truck was not working, The Frederick News-Post previously reported.
Casarella appeared confused and disoriented, and the homeowner called 911.
After police arrived, Casarella became combative, attacking two family members who were called to the scene and attempting to take a trooper's gun, the News-Post reported.
While en route to the jail, troopers noticed that Casarella was having trouble breathing and had a low pulse. They brought him to the hospital, where he died.
Casarella's cause of death was reported to be 'cocaine-induced delirium during restraint.'
The term 'delirium,' often used in combination with 'excited' or 'agitated,' refers to a state characterized by 'aggressive behavior, heightened pain tolerance, and extreme physical strength,' according to the audit report.
The term has historically been used by medical examiners, but has been rejected as a valid medical diagnosis by the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association and other medical bodies, the report says.
The death of Watts, 26, was also linked to 'delirium.' According to previous News-Post reporting, Frederick Police Department officers came into contact with Watts while responding to a report of a man causing a disturbance.
Watts ran when police approached him, leading officers on a brief chase, the News-Post reported at the time. The officers tackled and handcuffed him.
According to a case summary report, Watts was restrained until after he was loaded onto a gurney by emergency medical services. Police removed the handcuffs after emergency medical services said they needed to start CPR on Watts.
He died at the hospital.
Watts' official cause of death was phencyclidine-induced agitated delirium associated with police restraint, according to a postmortem examination report obtained by The Associated Press and provided to the News-Post on Thursday.
Phencyclidine, also known as PCP, is a drug that can have hallucinogenic effects on users.
The Associated Press obtained documents related to Watts' death as part of 'Lethal Restraint' — an investigation into fatal police encounters involving the use of force that is not meant to kill.
Of the 1,036 deaths analyzed as part of that investigation, the cause was listed as 'excited delirium' in 142. That number does not include the deaths of Casarella or Watts.
The audit of restraint-related death investigations in Maryland found that 'excited delirium' was cited as a cause of death in nearly half of the reviewed cases, 'contributing to misclassification.'
Saylor, a 26-year-old man with Down syndrome, asphyxiated after being restrained by three off-duty Frederick County Sheriff's deputies.
The deputies were working secondary employment with Hill Management at the Westview Promenade, the News-Post reported.
The deputies were called to remove Saylor from from the Regal Cinemas Westview Stadium 16 when employees said he refused to either leave the theater or buy another ticket after having already seen the movie.
The deputies used three sets of handcuffs linked together to restrain Saylor after he 'dropped to the floor' on an access ramp, the News-Post reported.
When they attempted to stand Saylor up, they realized he was unconscious and removed the handcuffs. He died at the hospital.
Next steps
No criminal charges were brought against the law enforcement officers involved in the deaths of Saylor, Gray, Casarella or Watts.
Grand juries that reviewed the facts in the cases of Saylor, Gray and Casarella found that the officers' use of force against the men did not warrant criminal charges.
Frederick County State's Attorney Charlie Smith declined to prosecute three officers in connection with Watts' death, stating at the time that the officers' use of force was 'justifiable.'
In a phone interview on Thursday, Smith said he met with the attorney general to discuss the audit prior to the report being released, but Brown could not answer many questions about the conclusions or methodology at that time.
Now that the report has been released, Smith said his office is 'going to take it seriously.'
However, he said the office is not in a position to take action based on the auditors' findings until they have done their own due diligence, which will include seeking a second opinion from the American Board of Pathology.
Generally speaking, Smith said, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is responsible for giving the State's Attorney's Office a manner and cause of death in cases it investigates.
A finding that the manner of death was homicide does not necessarily mean that whoever caused the death committed criminal murder, Smith said.
For example, Smith said, the manner of death for someone who is killed by a drunk driver would likely be homicide, but the appropriate charge for the driver in that case would be vehicular manslaughter.
The information provided by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is one factor the State's Attorney's Office weighs when deciding whether or not to prosecute law enforcement officers for deaths that occurred in their custody.
However, Smith said, 'it's not dispositive.'