Lawsuit Filed By Family Of Man Paralyzed During Arrest In Prince George's County

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — The family of Demonte Ward-Blake has filed a lawsuit against Prince George's County for $75 million after Ward-Blake was paralyzed from the waist down and suffered a broken nose during a 2019 arrest. The suit alleges "systemic federal civil rights violations." Ward-Blake’s family has retained the services of Murphy, Falcon, and Murphy, a Baltimore-based firm whose clients have included the families of Freddie Gray and Jordan McNair.

“These allegations paint a tragic picture,” attorney Billy Murphy said at a news conference. “Over the course of numerous leadership cycles, the Prince George’s County government has failed to solve the most important problems in their police department because they simply do not care enough to protect the rights of its citizens.”

During Ward-Blake's arrest, attorney Malcolm Ruff said vertebrae in his back were severed. He was taken down by police after he started fighting with officers, the police department noted previously. Cpl. Bryant Strong, who was involved in Ward-Blake's arrest, was later indicted on assault charges in the incident and will go on trial in May.

“He took him by the back of his hands when they were handcuffed behind his back and just threw him with tremendous force to the ground head-first,” Murphy said. “That caused all these catastrophic injuries. The sidewalk is usually not your friend, and he hit that sidewalk head-first and face-first, and he suffered tremendous damage to his spine that could only have been caused by an excessive amount of force. Not somebody running away, who slipped and fell. No, that wasn’t enough force.”

According to the police department, the 2019 incident occurred in the 4700 block of Wheeler Road in Oxon Hill. Police saw Ward-Blake driving a car with expired registration tags and pulled him over. The officer's dash camera showed a child in the back seat. A report indicated the officer smelled marijuana coming from the car. He also ran Ward-Blake's driver's license and discovered he was on probation for driving on a suspended driver's license, the department noted at the time of the incident.

When the officer tried to obtain the vehicle identification number, Ward-Blake "became irate" and screamed at the officer, the police department noted. He moved his hands to the center console and when he was ordered to move his hands back to the steering wheel, he refused. The officer returned to his patrol car and called for backup, waiting there. Two officers arrived and one saw a knife in the center console of Ward-Blake's vehicle. A woman arrived and took the little girl.

While being searched by officers, the driver struck an officer in the head with his left elbow, the police department reported. Ward-Blake then tried to escape as an officer tried to wrestle him to the ground. That's when Ward-Blake fell to the ground and his neck. Police called for an ambulance and the man underwent surgery.