Baltimore Board of Estimates set to approve $6 million settlement with family of man killed during GTTF pursuit
BALTIMORE - Baltimore City has agreed to settle with the family of a bystander who died during a police chase by the disgraced Gun Trace Task Force in 2010.
The Board of Estimates will vote to approve the $6 million settlement at next week's meeting.
In April of 2010, officers Wayne Jenkins, Ryan Guinn and Sean Suiter were chasing a drug trafficking suspect when the suspects crashed into car with two citizen bystanders.
Police said 86-year-old Elbert Davis was killed in the crash, while a woman was seriously injured in Baltimore's Grove Park neighborhood.
The lawsuit was filed by Shirley Johnson, the daughter of Elbert Davis.
Davis' family blames Baltimore Police Department, and specifically three officers with ties to the Gun Trace task Force, including its longtime leader, Sgt. Wayne Jenkins.
The lawsuit said the officers ignored their dying father. Instead of helping him following a crash, they rushed to plant drugs in the car that they'd been chasing.
The family initially asked for $25 million in 2018.
According to Baltimore City, after crash, officers immediately searched the suspect's car and did not find drugs.
An unidentified officer then allegedly planted narcotics in the car, after which the suspects were arrested.
Both suspects pled guilty to various crimes, and Umar Burley pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter.
In 2013, Davis' family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Burley and obtained a judgment of more than $1 million.
The 2017 investigation into the GTTF led to an indictment of Wayne Jenkins that included allegations that he falsified documentation related to the statement of probable cause in Burley's arrest.
In 2018, Jenkins was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Following the GTTF investigation and indictments, the convictions of the two suspects were vacated and the criminal charges dismissed.
The suspects alleged that the officers had no basis to try and stop and detain them initially, which precipitated the car chase that led to the accident.