Death of Anton Black

Anton Black was 19 when he died during an encounter with police in Greensboro, Maryland, on September 15, 2018. Officers approached him after receiving a reported kidnapping call involving a younger acquaintance. Black ran, and officers pursued him to his family's home. Reporting and the later federal court record state that officers restrained him on the ground, handcuffed him, and shackled his legs before he became unresponsive.

Maryland's medical examiner attributed Black's death to sudden cardiac arrest associated with underlying heart anatomy and the stress of the struggle, classifying the manner as accidental. The federal court record also documents contrary expert opinions offered by Black's family: specialists concluded that pressure and positioning during restraint prevented him from breathing and caused his death. These conflicting medical conclusions became central to the family's civil-rights and wrongful-death litigation.

The Maryland State Police investigated the encounter and provided its findings to the Caroline County State's Attorney. According to the federal court's January 2022 opinion, the prosecutor notified state police on March 7, 2019, that the office would not seek criminal charges against any individual in Black's in-custody death. Black's relatives later brought federal civil claims against police officials, municipalities, medical examiners, and the state. In 2022, three towns agreed to a $5 million partial settlement that included changes to police training and policies. In November 2023, Maryland approved a separate settlement concerning the medical examiner's office, requiring reforms for autopsies involving law-enforcement restraint and providing payments to Black's family and counsel. Civil settlements are not findings of criminal guilt.

A statewide forensic review reported by the Associated Press in 2025 concluded that Black's death was among restraint deaths that should have been classified as homicides rather than under their original classifications. A forensic homicide classification means another person's actions caused the death; it does not by itself establish a crime or identify a guilty person.

On July 1, 2026, the Maryland Attorney General announced a process for notifying families and releasing findings in 41 OCME audit cases, including an independent case-by-case review to determine whether any criminal investigation should be reopened. As of July 12, 2026, the state review was ongoing, but no source showed that Black's death certificate had been amended, that a criminal investigation had been reopened, or that any officer had been charged. The active review supports an ongoing catalog status while those distinctions remain explicit.