Jury Awards $500,000 After Detective Strikes Man at East Baltimore Carryout

On a January afternoon in 2009, Jerriel Lyles stopped at the P&J Carry Out on East Monument Street in East Baltimore to pick up food. Plainclothes officers from the Violent Crimes Impact Section were working the area. Detective David Greene approached Lyles during a frisk and struck him in the face. The blow fractured his nose, caused his eyes to swell, and left blood dripping from his face.

Lyles described the force of the strike at trial, testifying that the blow was so heavy it felt as if the officer's radio was in his hand at the moment of impact. He suffered documented facial injuries, including a broken nose, as a result of the encounter.

Detective Greene offered a different account from the witness stand. He told jurors that Lyles became hostile inside the carryout, attempted to walk away when Greene tried to detain him, and raised his hands during the encounter. Greene suggested that Lyles may have injured himself by poking his own face. The jury did not accept that explanation.

Domenic Iamele represented Lyles and argued the case to verdict. The jury returned a $500,000 award in Lyles' favor. The trial court then applied Maryland's statutory cap on damages against municipalities, reducing the judgment to $200,000 -- the maximum the city was required to pay under state law at the time.

The case was documented by the Baltimore Sun as part of its 'Undue Force' investigation, a multi-year examination of police misconduct lawsuits and payouts by Baltimore City. The Sun's reporting identified Domenic Iamele as plaintiff's counsel and confirmed the $500,000 jury award and the $200,000 post-cap judgment. Baltimore City also paid Lyles a separate $24,000 to settle a second claim arising from an invasive street search that occurred roughly three weeks after the carryout incident.