Four police officers needlessly killed Ryan LeRoux, a 21-year-old African American suffering a mental health crisis, by shooting him 23 times.
The Disability Rights Section of the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division (Civil Rights Division) filed a Statement of Interest supporting the lawsuit against the Montgomery County Police (MCPD) for the death of Ryan LeRoux. Attorneys Kobie Flowers and Eve Hill filed the lawsuit on behalf of Ryan's parents. Kobie and Eve are partners with Brown Goldstein & Levy, LLP (BGL). The lawsuit seeks to hold accountable Montgomery County and four of its police officers for the unnecessary July 2021 killing of Ryan at a McDonald's drive-thru, while Ryan was suffering a mental health crisis.
Instead of trying to solve MCPD's problem of killing black people suffering from mental health crises, as indicated in its own 2021 Use of Force statistics, MCPD doubled down by filing a Motion to Dismiss Ryan's case. The Civil Rights Division, in its 18-page Statement of Interest, explained that, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), MCPD must do more than simply dismiss Ryan's case.
The Civil Rights Division stated, "Courts have also made clear that [the ADA] does not allow public entities to claim ignorance in the face of apparent signs of a person's disability. . ." As Ryan's lawsuit alleges, the MCPD knew or should have known of Ryan's disability (i.e., his mental health crisis). Instead of protecting and serving Ryan, MCPD shot and killed him, in violation of the ADA. This case now continues with the Civil Rights Division and BGL on Ryan's side.
Founded in 1982, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a 22-lawyer law firm based in Baltimore, Maryland, with an office in Washington, DC. The firm has maintained a thriving national practice handling cases of every stripe, from commercial litigation and civil rights to criminal defense and complex family law. Above all else, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a client-centered law firm and has decades of experiences bringing passionate, effective advocacy to our clients' fights for justice.
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