WICOMICO COUNTY, Md.- A Seaford, Del. man is suing four officers, two from the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office, and two from the Delmar Police Department, following a 2013 incident in which he claims excessive force was used.
In the early morning hours of April 14, 2013, Marcus Bounds was arrested for driving under the influence. According to the initial report from the sheriff's office, Bounds was pulled over on Route 13 in Delmar, Md.. The report stated that when a deputy arrived on the scene, Bounds was slumped over the wheel with the car still on and his foot on the brake. The report further stated that Bounds had a strong odor of alcohol coming off of him and refused any sobriety tests. The sheriff's office's report also stated that Bounds would not cooperate with officers as they attempted to arrest him and the deputies had to take actions to gain control of the situation. By the time Bounds was taken into custody, four officers were on the scene, two from Delmar and two from the WCSO.
Officers used a stun gun on Bounds and later in the surveillance video, Bounds can be seen being taken to the ground by an officer. Bounds' attorney, Luke Rommel, told WBOC on Wednesday that while he understands his client was in this situation for a suspected DUI, Rommel and Bounds believe the officers went too far.
"We had unrelated to that, Marcus being gratuitously, in other words, for no good reason or for no reason we can determine, he was tazed several times," Rommel said. "He was slammed to the ground on the pavement multiple times. The force was just dramatically excessive in our opinion. We still don't know why the force was used."
However, Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis believes his deputies did nothing wrong during the arrest. He told WBOC the same thing more than two years ago when the incident first happened.
"And I think I told you then, and I certainly will tell you now, I applaud the deputy for handling the situation the way he handled it," Lewis said. "I didn't see anything excessive. I didn't see any abuse. And he handled it just how he should have handled it, without any further damage to the police car or any further damage to the deputy. He handled it like he should have handled it."
Rommel said Wednesday that the civil case has been filed in federal court in Baltimore. Rommel added that while litigation has been going on for a little while no, at the time no trial date has been set. However, the Salisbury attorney expects a trial date sometime next summer.
