Baltimore consumer finance attorney Joshua L. Greenberg says a late-night visit for baby bottles turned into a career-crushing debacle when city officers wrongly accused him of pointing a gun at them outside his Bolton Hill home. In a new federal lawsuit, he claims a 2023 police raid, a false affidavit, and 13 now-dismissed criminal charges gutted his reputation so badly that he had to sell his law firm for pennies on the dollar, leaving his practice a shadow of what it once was.
Greenberg filed the federal civil-rights suit last Thursday in U.S. District Court, naming Officers Megan Deaton, Latora Craig, and Krystal Cooper and accusing them of false arrest and malicious prosecution, according to The Daily Record. The complaint says one officer swore in an application that Greenberg had pointed a firearm at police, only to later give testimony that contradicted that narrative. Greenberg’s attorney says the resulting charges, including assault and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, shattered client confidence and forced the rushed sale of his business.
What the Court Filing Says
The complaint, filed in federal court and available on CourtListener, lays out a chain of events that began when Greenberg’s then-wife arrived at his Bolton Hill residence around 2 a.m. to pick up baby bottles, accompanied by a police civilian escort. Officers allegedly reported seeing a gun, backed away with weapons drawn, and then obtained an arrest warrant even after later judicial findings questioned their version of events. Greenberg turned himself in the next morning and, according to the filing, remained in pretrial detention for more than a month. All 13 charges were nolle prossed on July 26, 2023, but not before his firm, the suit says, suffered catastrophic financial damage.
Judge’s Findings and Sworn Testimony
At a protective-order hearing, the officer who signed the charging affidavit acknowledged under oath that the affidavit’s account did not match her live testimony, the complaint states. Judge Tameika Lunn concluded “there was no imminent threat that he was pointing it at anyone or going to harm anyone with that gun.” Even so, the lawsuit says the officer declined to correct the charging papers, leaving the disputed allegations in place and Greenberg facing months of prosecution. His legal team argues those omissions are part of broader problems with how the Baltimore Police Department handles affidavits and warrants, a theme underscored in the filing posted on CourtListener.
Pattern and Recent Payouts
The lawsuit explicitly links Greenberg’s case to the U.S. Department of Justice’s 2016 conclusion that the Baltimore Police Department engaged in a “pattern or practice” of unconstitutional stops, searches, and arrests, according to the Justice Department. Greenberg’s attorneys say that backdrop helps explain how the contested allegations remained on the books even after they were challenged in court. They also point to the city’s recent civil payouts, including Baltimore’s approval in January of a $14 million settlement in a decades-old wrongful-conviction case, as reported by CBS Baltimore, as evidence of the high cost of police misconduct.
City Response and Next Steps
The Baltimore Police Department declined to comment on the lawsuit, and a spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Scott did not respond to inquiries, according to The Daily Record. Greenberg is represented by attorney Allen Honick. The complaint seeks damages under federal civil-rights laws along with several state-law claims as the case proceeds in U.S. District Court…