A 19-year-old black man died in 2018 while in the custody of Maryland police, and relatives of the deceased said his “unreal and senseless” death stoked racial resentment in the neighborhood.
US District Judge Catherine Blake declined to dismiss the family’s claims that Black was subjected to excessive force by police in January 2022.
Body camera video of the fatal incident did not conclusively disprove the family’s claims that Black was subjected to excessive force by officers, according to Blake’s 27-page conclusion.
Dateline spent an entire year investigating Black’s death and connections to Floyd’s murder. What had Anton Black been through? NBC airs a one-hour special every Friday at 10 p.m. EST.
Anthony Black
Deadline: What happened to Anton Black?
Anton Black died after being chased by white police officers and held for six minutes outside his family’s home in rural Greensboro.
Eight months after a court refused to dismiss the family’s complaint alleging excessive police force, Black’s parents are now speaking out.
An autopsy report into Black’s death was released in 2019, two days after Maryland Governor Larry Hogan expressed displeasure with the progress of the investigation.
Black’s death was accidental, and the state medical examiner’s post-mortem report concluded that his congenital heart disease, mental instability, and stress from the conflict were likely to blame.
The true cause of Black’s death, according to a Johns Hopkins University cardiologist who observed the family’s case, was asphyxiation.
Dr. David Fowler, who served as Maryland’s chief medical examiner until his retirement in 2019, ensured Black’s autopsy was legitimate and accurate.
A family friend named Christina Robinson blames the police for Black’s death, even though she knows many white residents in the neighborhood supported the police.
19-year-old boy Anton Black died of police brutality over racial bias
According to Dailymail.com, on September 15, 2018, Anton Black lost his life after a confrontation with Greensboro police on his mother’s porch.
He is at his mother’s door, waiting. He just wanted to go home. When he’s home, why are you still ignoring him? Antone Black, his father, would have told Dateline.
And he said, “That’s not right.” He didn’t attack anyone. He didn’t commit a bank robbery. He didn’t kill anyone. »
Following a 911 call reporting a man dragging a child into a headache down the street, retired officer Thomas Webster IV could be seen talking to the child on video from the ‘incident.
A family friend of Black, the teenager informed the officer that Black was acting strangely because he was “schizophrenic”.
When Webster ordered Black to place his hands behind his back and submit to arrest, Black said, “I love you.” He then turned around, ran to his parents’ house and got into a car.
Black lost consciousness as he was attacked by Webster and two other cops, retired Ridgley Police Chief Gary Manos and Centerville Police Officer Dennis Lannon. They were off duty when Manos and Lannon tried to help Webster capture Black.
Where is Officer Anton Black Killer Thomas Webster now?
Thomas Webster, a former Greensboro police officer who has been charged with serious crimes and is facing trial, is likely not currently in jail.
No one has ever been detained or charged since Anton’s death was ruled accidental.
According to Greensboro Police Department policy, the court found that when Webster smashed the car window and shocked Black, he was not trying to defuse the situation or avoid responding to a person. in mental health crisis.
When Thomas was arrested in 2013, one such incident involved him kicking a black man in the face and fracturing his jaw. He was found not guilty despite the dashcam video clearly showing it.
After being charged with second-degree aggravated assault, he quit his job at Dover with what didn’t appear to be a major issue and a hefty $230,000 severance package.
