Medical Examiner Rules Baltimore Police Custody Death A Homicide
Maryland’s chief medical examiner has ruled the death of 31-year-old Dontae Melton Jr., who died after being restrained by Baltimore Police officers in June, as a homicide. It marks the first such ruling since a recent state audit sharply criticized how custody deaths had been classified in past years.
Melton was experiencing what appeared to be a behavioral health crisis on June 24 when officers handcuffed and restrained him. He lost consciousness and was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The cause of death has not been released due to the ongoing investigation.
Just weeks before Melton’s death, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office released an audit that found state medical examiners had often minimized the role of police in custody deaths, sometimes ruling them accidents or “undetermined.” The review suggested that roughly three dozen cases statewide should have been classified as homicides.
A homicide ruling means the actions of another person caused a death, but it does not necessarily indicate a crime. In a separate 2023 case in Montgomery County, for example, an in-custody death was deemed a homicide, but no officers were charged.
The attorney general’s office, which now has jurisdiction over all police custody deaths, is continuing its investigation into Melton’s case. On Wednesday, it released six hours of body camera footage showing the encounter involving 10 city officers. The footage depicts Melton claiming someone was chasing him, darting into traffic, struggling against restraints, and at one point saying he could not breathe.
Officers placed a protective helmet on him and waited more than 40 minutes for medics who never arrived, eventually transporting him to a hospital themselves. Attorneys for Melton’s family noted that a hospital was only three minutes away. They said the homicide ruling confirmed what the family already believed, that his death “was the direct result of the actions and inactions of those sworn to protect him.”
Family attorneys are calling for transparency, accountability, and systemic reform to prevent similar tragedies.
A police spokeswoman said all officers remain on full duty except for one who sustained a shoulder injury. The president of the Fraternal Order of Police lodge defended the officers, saying they did everything possible to secure medical help and criticized the attorney general’s office for, in his view, unfairly targeting police.
Medical Examiner Rules Baltimore Police Custody Death A Homicide was originally published on wolbbaltimore.com
