Man dies 3 days after fight with police in Maryland

MIDDLE RIVER, Md. (AP) - A man has died, days after fighting with Baltimore County police officers who were called to his home because he was behaving strangely, and a lawyer for the man's family said it's clear that officers used excessive force.

Tawon Boyd, 21, died Wednesday after spending three days in a hospital following the confrontation with officers on Sunday outside his home in Middle River. Police said in a statement that he became aggressive with officers, who used physical force to subdue him.

An autopsy is being conducted to confirm the cause of death. A lawyer for Boyd's family, Latoya Francis-Williams, told The Associated Press that Boyd's kidneys and heart failed. She said it's not clear whether his death was the result of the beating or a medical condition, but she said he had not experienced kidney failure previously.

"He didn't have those bruises. He wasn't battered before this. He wasn't unconscious before this," Francis-Williams said Thursday. "All of the physical injuries came from the severe beating he took on Sunday."

Police and Francis-Williams said Boyd's girlfriend called 911 early Sunday morning because he was behaving strangely and she thought he needed medical attention.

According to a statement from police, Boyd "violently confronted police and medical providers." Police said Boyd also tried to get into several marked police cars and banged on the doors of neighbors' homes. He refused to obey orders to get on the ground and put his hands on his back, and began fighting officers, injuring three of them, police said.

Francis-Williams said that while she is still investigating the incident, she's found no evidence that Boyd was violent before officers started beating him.

"Police do not have the legal authority to escalate force just because they're frustrated or because they're poorly trained. Blows to the head, choking somebody - that's deadly force," Francis-Williams said. "I haven't heard any officer articulate that his or her life was in danger or there was an actual threat of severe bodily injury or death."

One officer wrote in a police report obtained by The Baltimore Sun that he punched Boyd twice because Boyd was hanging onto him. The officers said they restrained Boyd by holding him down with their arms and body weight.

Medics were called during the struggle and gave Boyd something that calmed him down, but the treatment was redacted from the police report, the Sun reported. Police said medical privacy laws prevent them from detailing the treatment.

A hashtag of Boyd's name was trending on Twitter, but there were no immediate protests. Boyd died on the same day that Baltimore County prosecutors said no charges would be filed in the death of Korryn Gaines, a 23-year-old black woman who, according to police and prosecutors, pointed a shotgun at officers during a standoff at her apartment. Gaines' 5-year-old son was with her at the time and was injured, and she posted video of the standoff on social media.

Activists with the Black Lives Matter movement protested the department over Gaines' death, and a wrongful-death lawsuit has been filed.

Francis-Williams said she planned to file a notice of intent to sue the county, the police department and the officers involved.

She said the county's police department has problems similar to neighboring Baltimore city, where a Justice Department investigation found a pattern and practice of civil rights investigations. The investigation followed the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died after suffering a spinal injury while riding in a police van. Six officers were charged in Gray's death, but none were convicted of any crimes.