A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against two Baltimore County police officers claiming they unnecessarily used a Taser gun against a man involved in a domestic disturbance.
U.S. District Judge Andre Davis dismissed Sparks resident Brian Nero?s lawsuit against officers Seung Pak and Jai Song, who responded to Nero?s home shortly after midnight July 6, 2003, for a 911 call of a disturbance.
“In light of the information that was available to the officers when they arrived on the scene, their action in entering the Nero home was objectively reasonable … ” Davis wrote in a Sept. 27 decision. ” … The decision to ?detain? [Nero] was also plainly objectively reasonable.”
Pak and Song were greeted at the door by Nero?s wife, Maria, and entered the home, where they found Brian Nero naked in the bathroom ? inside an “attic-like storage area” ? with a handgun, according to the judge?s decision.
The officers requested the help of a tactical unit and used their weapons, including a Taser gun, to detain Nero until other units arrived.
Nero was eventually taken into custody and committed involuntarily as a danger to himself or others to a psychiatric hospital ward, court documents state. He was released after several days in the hospital and was never formally prosecuted as a result of the incident.
After the incident, Nero filed a federal lawsuit contending that several Baltimore County police officers illegally entered his home, detained him there and used a Taser to subdue him.
His wife testified, through affidavit, that she never gave police permission to enter the home.
“The officers pushed past me and entered the house without asking for, or being given, permission to enter,” she said.
Davis wrote that the officers had good cause for concern.
Neighbors called 911 because they heard “loud” and “violent” noises emanating from the Nero home. One neighbor thought Maria Nero “was being thrown into a wall,” according to court records. The judge also wrote that Maria Nero called one neighbor and thanked her for calling police after the incident.
“We?re very pleased with the result,” Baltimore County spokesman Don Mohler said of the decision. “The county felt all along that the officers acted properly and within the law. Their vindication simply affirms our faith in the Baltimore County Police Department.”
