• 23
  • August
    2010

In February 2008, Baltimore County police officers confronted Taevon G. Cann after he stopped at a gas station to fill up his car. Police spokesmen claimed that Cann was part of a criminal investigation, that when police approached him in the BP parking lot, he attempted to back over a police officer and escape.

The other side of the story, as told in a wrongful death lawsuit filed earlier this month, has two plainclothes policemen running up to Cann at the gas station and pointing firearms at him. Afraid, Cann attempted to flee in his vehicle, only to have Baltimore County police officers ram him from behind with a cruiser, blocking him in.

What's not debated is that, following a confrontation, police officers fired more than 70 bullets into the car, killing Taevon Cann.

Gwendolyn Cann claims that one officer even reloaded his weapon as her son lay there, wounded, and fired a fatal round into the back of his head.

The lawsuit names six members of the police force as defendants, including a police sergeant, two detectives and three officers. She is also suing the county government. In total, Cann is seeking $30 million in compensatory and punitive damages stemming from "mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering" endured after the loss of her son.

Baltimore police have not commented on the lawsuit, as the case is pending.

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