Family of Anton Black releases statement following court ruling to reject efforts to dismiss their lawsuit

GREENSBORO, Md. – Following an initial ruling last week denying qualified immunity to the individual police officers who killed Anton Black, U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Blake issued an across-the-board ruling on Thursday, summarily rejecting remaining motions by supervisory police and municipal officials, as well as that baby the Office of the Maryland State Medical Examiner, seeking to escape responsibility for their roles in the child’s death.

We’re told the case will now proceed against all defendants on all claims, including novel claims being pursued against Maryland’s State Medical Examiner’s office for covering up police officials’ 2018 murder of the Greensboro teen. The case was brought by Black’s family and the Coalition for Justice for Anton Black.

In December 2019, Anton’s family and the Coalition for Justice for Anton Black filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Baltimore, charging an unconstitutional police killing and a cover-up involving a decertified officer with a long record of abuse, two Eastern Shore police chiefs, one of whom has since pled guilty to criminal misconduct, three small towns, and the State Medical Examiner.

LaToya Holley, sister of Anton Black, issued the following statement:

“This sweeping ruling matters so much to our family and our ongoing struggle to ensure there is accountability for the police who murdered Anton, all those who covered it up, and for the medical examiner who tried to justify it. This ruling gives us some hope in our hearts that accountability will come, and that our lawsuit may ultimately help other families around the country who are also mourning loved ones whose killings by police were also covered up.”