COLLINS, WBAL TV 11 NEWS. ALL RIGHT, DAVID, THANK YOU. BALTIMORE CITY’S FINANCIAL BOARD APPROVED TWO SETTLEMENTS TODAY TOTALING NEARLY $400,000. ONE WAS THE 41ST STREET SETTLEMENT WITH CONNECTIONS TO BALTIMORE CITY POLICE’S DISGRACED GUN TRACE TASK FORCE. AND THEN THE OTHER CONCERNED A FORMER BPD MAJOR ALLEGING HE WAS DISCRIMINATED AGAINST BECAUSE HE’S WHITE. I-TEAM REPORTER TOLLY TAYLOR WAS AT THAT BOARD MEETING AND HE’S JOINING US LIVE NOW IN TALLY. SETTLEMENTS ARE CLOSING IN ON ANOTHER PAYMENT MILESTONE HERE. YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT. WE’RE NOW AT JUST UNDER $23 MILLION PAID OUT OVER THE COURSE OF 41 SETTLEMENTS. THIS ONE FOR $310,000. BALTIMORE CITY DEPUTIES SOLICITOR STEPHEN SALISBURY EXPLAINED TO MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ESTIMATES THAT STANLEY BASS WAS ARRESTED IN 2010 AFTER THREE OFFICERS SAID THEY SAW HIM MAKING, QUOTE, A DRUG TRANSACTION BASED SERVED 15 MONTHS IN PRISON AND SPENT FOUR MONTHS ON PAROLE. THEN IN 2019, AFTER THE GTF INDICTMENTS, THE STATE’S ATTORNEY’S OFFICE FILED A MOTION TO VACATE BASS’S CONVICTION. I’VE NEVER BEEN PART OF. MR. BASS IS ARRESTING OFFICERS WERE NOT MEMBERS OF THE GTF, BUT ONE OF THE GTF OFFICERS. MAMA DUGAN, WHO HAD TESTIFIED IN A SEPARATE TRIAL THAT HE AND SEVERAL OFFICERS, INCLUDING ONE OF BASS ARRESTING OFFICERS, HAD PLANTED DRUGS ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS, AND SALISBURY SAYS ALL THREE OF THE OFFICERS WHO ARRESTED BASS ARE STILL MEMBERS OF THE BPD AND HE SAYS HE WASN’T AWARE OF ANY INTERNAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE THREE OFFICERS. BOARD CHAIR NICK MOSBY DIDN’T LIKE THAT. WHEN WE GO DOWN THIS PATH AND WE ARE SETTLING ANYTHING, AT A MINIMUM, THE OFFICERS THAT WE’RE SETTLING WITH FOR THAT PARTICULAR INCIDENT, THERE SHOULD BE AN INTERNAL INVESTIGATION ON DAVIS. PLAINTIFF HAD BEEN PROMOTED TO THE SETTLEMENT. TWO THAT HINGED ON THE CREDIBILITY OF A FORMER BPD COMMISSIONER. YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT. FORMER COMMISSIONER DARRYL DE SOUZA, JAMES HANLEY, A FORMER MAJOR IN THE DEPARTMENT, FILED A SUIT ALLEGING DE SOUZA DISCRIMINATED AGAINST HANLEY BECAUSE HE’S A WHITE MALE AND WAS RETALIATED AGAINST BECAUSE OF HIS RACE. THE DEPUTY SOLICITOR EXPLAINED WHY A $75,000 SETTLEMENT WAS BEING RECOMMENDED IF THE CITY WERE TO MOVE FORWARD IN THE LITIGATION IN THE CASE WERE TO COME BEFORE A JURY, THE CLAIMS WOULD LIKELY TURN ON THE CREDIBILITY OF FORMER COMMISSIONER DE SOUZA, WHO WAS THEN WHO WAS THE BPD PRIMARY DECISION MAKER AND THE SUBJECT OF THE ALLEGATIONS DE SOUZA HAD IN THE INTERVENING YEARS SERVED TIME IN PRISON FOR TAX FRAUD AND SALISBURY POINTED OUT THAT WHILE THE FORMER MAJOR WAS SEEKING 175,000, THE SETTLEMENT WAS FOR LESS THAN HALF O
Baltimore City Board of Estimates approves 2 BPD settlements of almost $400K
City has paid out almost $23M over the course of 41 GTTF settlements
Updated: 5:32 PM EDT Jun 7, 2023
Settlements related to the defunct Baltimore police Gun Trace Task Force are closing in on another payment milestone.The city's financial board on Wednesday approved a settlement involving the GTTF and another settlement that alleged discrimination. To date, the city has paid out almost $23 million over the course of 41 settlements.Deputy City Solicitor Stephen Salsbury explained to members of the Board of Estimates that Stanley Bass was arrested in 2010 after three officers said they saw him making a drug transaction. Bass served 15 months in prison and spent four years on parole.After the GTTF indictments, the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office filed a motion in 2019 to vacate Bass' conviction."Mr. Bass' arresting officers were not members of the GTTF, but one of the GTTF officers -- Momodu Gondo -- had testified in a separate trial that he and several officers -- including one of Bass' arresting officers -- had planted drugs on multiple occasions," Salsbury said.Salsbury said all three officers who arrested Bass are still members of the BPD, and he said he wasn't aware of any internal investigation into the three officers. Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby, the board's chair, didn't like that."When we go down this path and we are settling anything, at a minimum, the officers that we're settling with for that particular incident, there should be an internal investigation," Mosby said.The board approved the settlement for $310,000.Another settlement hinged on the credibility of former Baltimore Police Commissioner Darryl DeSousa.James Handley, a former BPD major, filed a suit alleging DeSousa discriminated against Handley because he is a white man and was retaliated against because of his race.Salsbury explained why a $75,000 settlement was being recommended, saying: "If the city were to move forward in the litigation and the case were to come before a jury, the claims would likely turn on the ability of former Commissioner DeSousa, who was the BPD's primary decisionmaker in the subject of the allegations. DeSousa had, in the intervening years, served time in prison for tax fraud."Salsbury pointed out that while the former major was seeking $175,000, the settlement was for less than half of that. The board approved the $75,000 settlement.
BALTIMORE — Settlements related to the defunct Baltimore police Gun Trace Task Force are closing in on another payment milestone.
The city's financial board on Wednesday approved a settlement involving the GTTF and another settlement that alleged discrimination. To date, the city has paid out almost $23 million over the course of 41 settlements.
Deputy City Solicitor Stephen Salsbury explained to members of the Board of Estimates that Stanley Bass was arrested in 2010 after three officers said they saw him making a drug transaction. Bass served 15 months in prison and spent four years on parole.
After the GTTF indictments, the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office filed a motion in 2019 to vacate Bass' conviction.
"Mr. Bass' arresting officers were not members of the GTTF, but one of the GTTF officers -- Momodu Gondo -- had testified in a separate trial that he and several officers -- including one of Bass' arresting officers -- had planted drugs on multiple occasions," Salsbury said.
Salsbury said all three officers who arrested Bass are still members of the BPD, and he said he wasn't aware of any internal investigation into the three officers. Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby, the board's chair, didn't like that.
"When we go down this path and we are settling anything, at a minimum, the officers that we're settling with for that particular incident, there should be an internal investigation," Mosby said.
The board approved the settlement for $310,000.
Another settlement hinged on the credibility of former Baltimore Police Commissioner Darryl DeSousa.
James Handley, a former BPD major, filed a suit alleging DeSousa discriminated against Handley because he is a white man and was retaliated against because of his race.
Salsbury explained why a $75,000 settlement was being recommended, saying: "If the city were to move forward in the litigation and the case were to come before a jury, the claims would likely turn on the ability of former Commissioner DeSousa, who was the BPD's primary decisionmaker in the subject of the allegations. DeSousa had, in the intervening years, served time in prison for tax fraud."
Salsbury pointed out that while the former major was seeking $175,000, the settlement was for less than half of that. The board approved the $75,000 settlement.