No criminal charges for Baltimore County Police officers who detained county man who later died

Darcy Costello

The Baltimore Sun

August 5, 2024

The Baltimore County officers who detained a 41-year-old county man who later died at a hospital earlier this year won’t face criminal charges after an investigation by the state Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division.

The Independent Investigations Division determined the officers had not broken use of force or involuntary manslaughter laws, and that the force they used against the man, Craig Cousin, was “necessary and proportional,” according to a declination report released Monday.

Four Baltimore County officers encountered Cousin at a fast-food restaurant the night of Jan. 10, as they responded to 911 calls about the man. Cousin, a Pikesville resident, had punched through a drive-through window and was standing barefoot on broken glass, according to the report.

When police arrived on the scene, one officer pinned Cousin’s arm behind his back and pulled him away from the window. Cousin was taken to a nearby grassy area and put on the ground with the help of another officer. One officer kneeled on Cousin’s legs and hips as the other tried to control him. Two family members tried to calm Cousin down, but he continued to yell and struggle, the report said.

After about five minutes, the officers handcuffed Cousin. His stepfather encouraged him to take deep breaths, and one of the officers put leg restraints on Cousin’s ankles. He was placed on his side and his stepfather sat next to his head, the report said.

Moments later, his family members alerted police that he was vomiting and had passed out. One police officer radioed requesting medics “step it up.”

Less than a minute later, a family member said Cousin’s lips were turning blue, and officers checked his breathing, then administered Narcan, according to the report.

When medics arrived, they administered a second dose of Narcan, then put him on a stretcher and took him to a hospital in an ambulance. He died at the hospital.

According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Cousin’s cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, which happens when electrical signals to the heart don’t work, according to the Attorney General’s report. The autopsy report stated the cardiac arrhythmia was “in the setting of cardiac conduction system abnormality during restraint,” and classified his manner of death as a homicide.

“The restraint was stress inducing and led to an irregular heartbeat that was predisposed due to his heart problem,” the report said. “He had an underlying heart condition that could not handle the stress of the event.”

The autopsy also identified contusions and abrasions on the back of his right hand, both of his legs, and the left side of his back. His neck was “dissected,” the Attorney General report said, and he had bleeding in the “muscles and fat of his neck, arms, legs and back due to the restraint.”

No drugs were found in his system in toxicology testing, though the medical examiner’s office said he could have been under the influence of an unknown drug or substance.

Despite the medical examiner’s finding, the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division found that there was no evidence that the officers involved “intended to use force that exceeded that which was necessary and proportional to restrain and prevent Mr. Cousin from being a danger to himself or others.”

The report’s authors described Cousin’s behavior as a threat to his own safety and others’ safety, requiring officers to restrain him. The report also said the officers who took him away from the broken window used force that was “appropriate and minimal,” and that they attempted to deescalate the situation by speaking politely to him.

The four officers involved were: David Folderauer, Donald Contrell, Alex Eskins and James Marsh.

Folderauer has been previously investigated by Baltimore County Police for alleged violations of the use-of-force policy. The Independent Investigations Division said none of the officers’ disciplinary records or criminal histories, if any existed, were relevant to their legal analysis.