Baltimore City Jury Awards $2 Million After a Security Guard Tasered a Masked Pharmacist at a Columbia Store

On April 4, 2020, Makram Megdiche stopped at the LA Mart in the Oakland Mills Village Center in Columbia, Maryland. It was a store he shopped at almost every day, within walking distance of his home. The COVID pandemic was in its first weeks. Megdiche, a pharmacy manager who worked with patients infected with the virus, came in wearing a protective face covering. A security guard told him to take the mask off or be denied the right to shop.

Megdiche pulled the covering down for a moment to show the guard his face and prove he was a regular customer, then put it back on and finished shopping. As he was checking out, he asked the guard to keep some distance from him. By his account, the guard fired a Taser at him before he finished the sentence.

The guard, who worked for The Bureau LPO & Security Services, did not stop there. He pinned Megdiche to the ground, restrained his wrists, and walked him to a store office in front of staff and other customers. Howard County police responded that day to what they logged as a report of a disorderly subject, and the department said its investigation was ongoing. The Council on American-Islamic Relations called for a probe. Its Maryland outreach director, Zainab Chaudry, said the encounter "traumatized him and has had a profound effect on his wife and children." Megdiche took leave from his pharmacy job because of the mental and emotional toll.

In the weeks after the tasering, Megdiche hired David Muncy of Plaxen Adler Muncy. The firm sued LA Mart and The Bureau LPO & Security Services over the guard's conduct on the property. Attorneys David A. Muncy and Samantha Dos Santos took the case through trial in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City.

Both defendants were properly served and aware of the lawsuit, and both refused to participate. When the trial date arrived, neither LA Mart nor LPO appeared to defend itself. The firm presented its proof of what the guard did and what it cost Megdiche.

The jury returned a $2 million verdict in less than 30 minutes. No reduction or remittitur of the award has been reported.