Woman In Critical Condition Following Arrest: Baltimore Police Commissioner

BALTIMORE, MD — A woman is in critical condition and a lieutenant is suspended following an arrest that occurred over the weekend, according to the Baltimore Police Department.

There was no force used in the arrest of the 52-year-old woman, who was detained Sunday morning in southwest Baltimore and found unconscious in a cell in the southwest district, officials reported.

The woman, who was not publicly identified, was in life-threatening condition, officials said.

"We certainly suspect there may be some things that are attributable to her lifestyle or medical condition but we just don't know," Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said. "We do not know what ails her right now."

At 10:47 a.m. on Sunday, authorities said they received a call for service about a warrant for a 52-year-old woman in 100 block of South Calverton Road. She was wanted on an open warrant out of Calvert County for failure to appear, Davis said.

Police found the woman nearby and took her home before going to the southwest district, according to officials. It was not immediately clear why she went home and why she was taken to the precinct.

At 1:30 p.m., officers noticed she "seemed to be in medical distress and was unconscious," according to Deputy Commissioner Jason Johnson. She was taken from a cell at the precinct to the hospital, where she remains in critical condition.

While questions remain about what happened, Johnson said definitively: "It is not a use-of-force case."

The special investigations response team was handling the review of the incident.

The commissioner suspended a lieutenant involved as the investigation got underway. Said Davis: "I have some questions about what occurred," and she was not providing answers.

"It's in the best interest in the city," he said, to modify the officer's status pending the investigation, noting the importance of transparency and community relations.

The in-custody injury comes two years after Freddie Gray died in police custody, a situation that brought to light the fractured relationship between police and Baltimore residents. Gray was arrested after making eye contact with an officer and running on April 12, 2015, and died a week later from injuries prosecutors alleged he got while in police custody.

After his funeral, riots erupted in parts of the city, and six officers were indicted on charges from misconduct to manslaughter, although none of the charges held up in court. A federal probe into the department began after the riots, leading to a commitment from Baltimore police to reform many of its practices to ensure fair treatment of all in the community.

Regarding this weekend's in-custody injury, police said it was not clear why the woman was hospitalized but Davis said it was known from body camera and police van footage that there was no force used. That was a deviation from the Gray case, where neither officers nor vans were equipped with cameras, and reflected a change in department policies in the aftermath of the man's death.

"There is absolutely no force used in the case" involving the 52-year-old woman, and the interaction was "cordial," police reported.

As of Monday, Davis described her condition as life-threatening.

It remains under investigation whether she said she was in medical distress.

Police said the warrant on which she was detained was for failure to appear in Calvert County for a misdemeanor.

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