Baltimore Rapper Young Moose Sues Convicted Gun Trace Task Force, City Over 2012 Wrongful Arrest
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A Baltimore rapper is suing seven former members of the disbanded Gun Trace Task Force as well as other city officers after he accused them of harassment. He also claimed he was arrested and imprisoned without cause in a 2012 incident.
He is also suing Baltimore City's mayor and city council.
Kevron Evans, known as "Young Moose," alleges former Baltimore Police Detective Daniel Hersl and other officers harassed him during his initial 2012 arrest and then continued to harass him when he was on probation.
In a track called "Tired," released in 2014, Evans rapped about how members of the GTTF harassed him and his family following the initial 2012 incident.
"Detective Hersl, he a b***h, I swear to God he ain't right/ Heard about my rap career, he trying to f**k up my life," Young Moose, now 27, rapped.
According to the lawsuit, Evans met a friend at a bar on North Avenue and N. Collington Avenue on Oct. 20, 2012. As they were leaving, they were stopped by three officers who searched them both, but found nothing on them. His friend was released but Evans was taken into custody, then driven to another location where Hersl and other officers on the task force were standing by.
Evans alleges Hersl planted crack cocaine on him that night, which led to him being charged for drug possession. He later pleaded guilty on related charges to avoid jail time.
However, while he was on probation, the same officers obtained two arrest warrants stating Evans had violated his probation. Evans was arrested right before a show and ended up serving significant jailtime. Ultimately, he couldn't perform at shows and claims he lost significant revenue due to his false arrest, the complaint alleges. He said the arrests and jailtime damaged his career.
Evans' brother was also murdered while he was in prison and he couldn't go to the funeral to support his family.
Hersl was found guilty in 2018 for his role in the GTTF and is serving 18 years in federal prison on racketeering charges. From prison, he wrote a letter to the feds saying he has information about the investigation into Detective Sean Suiter's death.
Evans' allegations took place before Hersl was arrested and charged with federal crimes.
The Gun Trace Task Force, which is now a defunct unit of the Baltimore Police Department, was supposed to help get guns and violent criminals off the streets. Instead, the nine-member task force was convicted of abusing their powers and citizens' rights, including planting drugs and weapons and stealing money and jewelry.
Evans is suing for a total of $1.5 million for both punitive and compensatory damages.
Hersl maintains he is innocent.
WJZ reached out to lawyers for Hersl but received no response. In several of the letters he has written from prison, Hersl said he never committed misconduct while on the force.
"Whenever Mr. Evans would ask, 'Why are you doing this to me?' Officer Hersl would point to his badge and say, 'Because I can,'" Mandy Miliman, a lawyer for Evans, told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren. "Despite being a local star and somebody who's up-and-coming in the rapping industry, [Evans] went through it just like anybody else. He went through it and understands. For him, this is a statement for everybody else who felt so voiceless and helpless."
Miliman said her client does not trust the police after his encounters. "Here he was helpless because who is going to believe his word over the word of a police officer," she told Hellgren.
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