Maryland’s chief medical examiner has ruled the death of 31-year-old Dontae Melton Jr., who died after being restrained by Baltimore Police officers in June, as a homicide. It marks the first such ruling since a recent state audit sharply criticized how custody deaths had been classified in past years.
Melton was experiencing what appeared to be a behavioral health crisis on June 24 when officers handcuffed and restrained him. He lost consciousness and was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The cause of death has not been released due to the ongoing investigation.
Just weeks before Melton’s death, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office released an audit that found state medical examiners had often minimized the role of police in custody deaths, sometimes ruling them accidents or “undetermined.” The review suggested that roughly three dozen cases statewide should have been classified as homicides…