A Baltimore Police officer who once shot a city teen holding a BB gun and dinged the car of a passerby will likely cost the city $720,000 this week to settle a lawsuit with a different man who lost a leg in a crash with the officer.
The settlement, which is due to be considered by the Board of Estimates on Wednesday, will close out a dispute with Dennis Freeman, who threatened federal legal action against the city after Officer Alexia Davis hit him with her police cruiser.
Davis was using her lights — but not her sirens — when she sped through a red light and hit Freeman at Sinclair Lane and Moravia Road in June 2023. Freeman, who was riding a motorcycle, lost his right leg and underwent multiple surgeries on his left leg.
Just days later, Davis, this time in a personal vehicle, was charged with driving under the influence in Baltimore County, court records show.
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During a court hearing last year, Freeman said he cannot walk or shower without assistance as a result of the crash with Davis and said he sometimes wishes the crash took his life because he feels like a burden to his family.
“Although you did not stop my heart from beating, I will never live a normal life,” Freeman wrote in a statement read aloud in court.
Davis, 27, pleaded guilty in May to reckless driving and failure to control speed to avoid a collision. She was fined $2,000.
She received supervised probation before judgment for six months in the DUI case.
But Davis, who joined the Baltimore Police Department in 2019, remains on the city police force. The city’s Administrative Charging Committee suspended her for five days without pay in response to the crash, and she will undergo a vehicle operations course in March.
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City Solicitor Ebony Thompson, a member of the Board of Estimates, said Davis was also administratively suspended from July 1, 2023, to October 2024 as both cases were adjudicated. Davis was paid during that time, but could not drive a city car or carry a badge or gun.
Chaz Ball, Davis' attorney, called the crash a “tragic accident” which “she very much regrets.”
“Officer Davis wishes Mr. Freeman and his family the absolute best,” Ball said.
In 2020, Davis shot a 16-year-old who was holding a BB gun in East Baltimore. Body-worn camera video showed Davis firing from a median strip across traffic on Erdman Avenue onto a porch where several people were present. The teen was struck in the arm, and a passing car was also hit.
The youth, who was not identified because of his age, was charged with possession of a BB gun, a crime in Baltimore.
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Attorneys for the boy alleged that Davis and another officer “shot first and asked questions later.” Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby found the officers’ use of force to be justified.
Davis' attorney said he had no comment regarding the 2020 incident.
Today, Davis is back on duty, assigned to the police department’s northeastern division. Her driving privileges, Thompson said, have been reinstated.
Baltimore Banner reporter Justin Fenton contributed to this report.
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