Pubdate: Thu, 18 Feb 2016
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2016 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Kevin Rector

DRIVER SHOT BY POLICE WAS STOPPED OVER SEAT BELT ISSUE

The suspicious activity that led four plainclothes Baltimore police 
detectives in two unmarked vehicles to surround Jawan Richards' sport 
utility vehicle on a residential street in Northwest Baltimore late 
last month was that he wasn't wearing a seat belt, police say in court records.

Richards allegedly put his vehicle in reverse and struck the door of 
a police vehicle, which struck an officer, according to a summary of 
the incident written by police. Two of the detectives opened fire, 
shooting Richards once in the neck.

Richards, 22, was hospitalized for about a week after the Jan. 27 
incident. He is now in jail without bail on gun and traffic charges.

Police said after the incident that two detectives assigned to a 
special unit targeting guns and drugs had "reasonable and articulable 
suspicion" to approach Richards' vehicle, but declined to elaborate 
on that suspicion.

The summary, filed in District Court, provides the most complete 
description of the incident to date.

Police say the officers were in the area conducting traffic 
enforcement when Richards drove past.

After Richards was shot, police say, they saw marijuana in the SUV's 
center console and a SIG Sauer 9mm semiautomatic handgun with an 
obliterated serial number and eight rounds in the magazine on the 
driver's side floorboard. A search of the vehicle turned up 
additional small bags of marijuana, police say.

Officers recovered less than 10 grams of marijuana, police say. 
Maryland decriminalized possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana 
in October 2014, and no drug charges have been filed against Richards 
in the incident.

Police say Richards did not have a valid driver's license at the time 
of the shooting and was prohibited from carrying a handgun because he 
had committed multiple offenses when he was a juvenile.

Richards does not have an attorney listed in court records, and his 
family could not be reached for comment.

Police have identified the detectives who opened fire as Officers 
Robert Hankard and Carmine Vignola.

Hankard and Vignola are nine-year veterans assigned to the city's 
Ceasefire program, which focuses on shutting down drug markets.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom