To Baltimore City bailiffs, Olufemi Obua is an impatient, rude courthouse visitor who assaulted a security officer after refusing to follow orders.
To Obua?s family, he?s the victim of a “brutal beating” at the hands of courthouse security officers who dislocated the 21-year-old?s man?s shoulder and hospitalized him.
Whoever?s correct, last Thursday?s scuffle at Baltimore City District Court on North Avenue is the beginning of legal scuffles to come, with Obua facing criminal charges.
At about 9:20 a.m. that day, Obua appeared “agitated and impatient” as he waited in a security line to go through a metal detector when he “pushed through” the bailiff and headed down the hall, according to charging documents.
Obua refused to stop and the bailiff struggled to place him under arrest, the documents state.
During the struggle, Obua ended up on the ground and kicked the bailiff in the chest, the documents allege.
But Obua?s family has a much different version of events from that put forward by courthouse security.
“He was treated unjustly,” said his mother, Cynthia Obua. “They instantly treated him like a criminal. After they realized he was injured, they started making up stories.”
Obua acknowledges he was in a hurry that morning, because he had a truck outside waiting to give him a ride.
“He was merely in a rush,” Cynthia Obua said. “They pushed him, and handcuffed him and held him down. He was treated poorly. They knocked his shoulder out of the socket.”
She said the bailiffs used “excessive force” ? holding her son down as several bailiffs stepped on his shoulder and groin.
Olufemi Obua was taken to Union Memorial Hospital, where doctors put his shoulder back in place, she said.
Obua is charged with second-degree assault, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 10 years in prison, as well as disorderly conduct and interfering with an officer?s arrest.
His trial date is scheduled for Feb. 28 in Baltimore City District Court.
Obua also has pending gun and drug charges in Baltimore City Circuit Court, court records show.
