The Baltimore NAACP president harshly criticized the association?s Carroll branch for not demanding civil rights charges and further investigation in the death of a 17-year-old at Bowling Brook Preparatory School.
“It?s unfortunate that one of our counties that has not seen the light is not on board,” Marvin “Doc” Cheatham said.
Cheatham has been a consistent critic of Carroll prosecutors for not pursuing charges more serious than reckless endangerment against counselors who police said held Isaiah Simmons III face-down for three hours and called 911 only after the Baltimore teen lay unconscious for 41 minutes.
The Baltimore NAACP, along with other critics, also protested a judge?s decision to drop all charges against five of the counselors at the school for juvenile offenders.
The state medical examiner ruled Simmons? death a homicide, but the Carroll state?s attorney said evidence warranted only misdemeanor reckless-endangerment charges, which a judge dismissed against five counselors Tuesday.
“Carroll County, if you all got a problem with me, do what you got to do, but this fight I?m fighting,” Cheatham said.
The Carroll NAACP did not returns calls for comment.
Five of the former counselors at now-closed Bowling Brook are white; one, black. Simmons was black. Charges were dismissed earlier against a sixth counselor after evidence showed he was not near Simmons when the youth fell unconscious. Cheatham said he plans to hand-deliver a letter to the FBI next week, demanding an investigation and charges.
The U.S. Department of Justice, which would bring the charges, has been “closely monitoring” the case, said spokeswoman Jodi Bobb, who declined further comment.
The Maryland NAACP has supported Cheatham in calling for federal charges, and the national NAACP termed Simmons? death an example of “overly aggressive handling of black youth,” which led it to declare in October a “state of emergency.”
