BALTIMORE — A new investigative report from the Maryland Attorney General's Office reveals what led to a man's death while in police custody last January.
The Medical Examiner's Office ultimately ruled that Armar Womack, 64, died of a heart attack after experiencing a series of seizures resulting from a drug overdose.
While the Queen Anne's County State's Attorney's Office declined to criminally charge the involved officers, the Attorney General's report indicates that some charges such as reckless endangerment and misconduct in office may have been warranted.
Womack was arrested on January 21of last year by Trooper Branden Carroll following a traffic stop in Millington.
During the stop Womack voluntarily handed Carroll over a bag of marijuana, prompting a search of his vehicle which turned up a scale that allegedly had a trace of cocaine on it.
Womack reportedly admitted to taking cocaine earlier in the day. He was taken into custody at approximately 7:45pm that night and placed in a holding cell at the
Centreville police barracks by 8:25pm.
Surveillance footage at the time observed by investigators shows Womack fully responsive.
Around 9:50pm that night is when things started taking a negative turn.
Despite having been searched, a camera shows Womack pulling a substance from his mouth and placing it in his pants pocket and back in his mouth again.
This apparently happened multiple times without any troopers noticing it.
Womack soon began showing signs of distress by falling to the floor, dragging himself to the cell door, and kicking and banging on the door, before experiencing what appeared to be multiple seizures.
Although a trooper did speak with Womack for a few seconds in between, none entered his cell.
About 18 more minutes passed, eight of which Womack showed no movement, before he suffered another seizure.
That's when troopers finally opened the cell door and called an ambulance.
Medics arrived 16 minutes later, and 10 minutes after that Womack stopped breathing. He was dead by 11:44pm.
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In the time leading up to the ambulance's arrival, the Attorney General's Office claims troopers just stood over Womack without rendering any aid.
Sergeant Brian Curley and Corporal Gregory Smith were the troopers tasked with monitoring Womack while he was in custody.
The Attorney General's Office alleges there are multiple time lapses and discrepancies with documentation submitted by the involved troopers summarizing the events of that night.
One concern was that each trooper completed their incident reports days and even weeks after Womack's death without explanation.
The Attorney General's Independent Investigations Division does not have the legal authority to prosecute officers in the case. However in their report several scenarios are laid out in which the Queen Anne's County State's Attorney's Office could have had grounds to pursue charges, for which they declined.
Read the full report below.
