A devastated mother wants answers after her son died after being restrained in Baltimore police custody on June 24.
WJZ Investigates is looking into a series of failures that may have led to his death, including problems dispatching an ambulance and a judge denying his mother an emergency petition to get him help for his mental health issues just one day before his fatal encounter with officers.
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Who was Dontae Melton?
Eleshiea Goode said she raised her son in a loving home. His father was always part of his life.
Melton had two children of his own, a 13-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter.
“They adored him, and he adored them,” Goode told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren.
He loved baseball and graduated from Forest Park High School.
“My son, my son, my son. I just can’t stress enough how loving Dontae is,” Goode said.
She told WJZ that as he got older, he suffered from seizures and was later diagnosed with a mood disorder.
“When he was on his meds, he was better than when he was off,” Goode said. “When he was off, it was difficult for him—difficult in the sense that it seems like he was just battling something all the time within his mind, and that’s when the drug use entered.”
Goode worked to get him help and remembered the good times, including a party with his family just weeks before his death.
“He was a son, a father, and a human being who deserved care,” Goode said. “Please don’t forget that.”
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Encounter with police
The encounter started just before 10 p.m. on June 24.
In a preliminary report, investigators with the Office of Maryland’s Attorney General said Melton approached an officer in a marked police vehicle at a red light. He had walked into the middle of the intersection of West Franklin Street and North Franklintown Road.
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Authorities said the officer attempted to restrain him “for his own safety.”
Other officers soon arrived at the scene and placed him in handcuffs and leg restraints, according to the preliminary report.
They called for a medic. At some point, Melton became unresponsive.
No medic ever arrived, and police took Melton to the hospital in their vehicle, where he died almost 5 1/2 hours after he initially encountered the officer.
“I did everything I knew how to do personally and professionally to help my son,” Goode said. “He knew to go to a police officer for help since he was younger, right? You know, we’re not anti-police. He knew that.”
Goode recounted an incident several years ago where officers were able to get her son help in Edmondson Village.
“I want to thank them for taking care of Dontae on that day,” she said.
This time was different.
“They didn’t give me any information on what happened within those eight minutes when he pulled on a police officer’s door, and then he was in shackles and handcuffs according to the 911 report, so I don’t know anything,” Goode said. “I don’t know when he went to the hospital. I don’t know what kind of condition he was in. Obviously, I don’t know what he died from. I don’t know anything, and I’m very frustrated. And I understand these types of investigations take time, but there are so many missing pieces.”
WJZ Investigates reviewed dispatch calls.
“I’ve got a gentleman pulling on my doors asking for help, but he doesn’t look like he needs help,” an officer said.
He added, “I’m fine. He just seems like he’s having a mental crisis.”
Later, another officer said, “He’s very irate right now. They have leg shackles on him and handcuffs already.”
Police repeatedly ask if a medic is en route.
“Medic was requested at 21:48. Another medic was just requested at 21:55. No ETA on when a medic or engine will arrive,” someone said over dispatch.
The medic never came.
“I wake up every morning in pain, and it hurts because I don’t sleep at night thinking about him being on the hot pavement by himself and people just around him discussing how we are going to get him to the hospital,” Goode said, her voice cracking.
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CAD system failure
The city’s computer-aided dispatch system, also known as CAD, went down during the crisis according to a further review of dispatch audio.
It is the main line of communication between police and fire.
“Be advised. They took the CAD back down. We can’t do anything up here for the next 8 to 10 minutes,” someone said as Melton was still waiting for a medic.
Last week, Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott addressed the concerns during a press briefing.
“CAD is a technology system, right? We know that technology systems fail. We are investigating what happened with that particular incident,” the mayor said.
“This is why you also have backups. There are backup systems in place, and part of that investigation is to go back and see how those were used in this situation as well,” he told reporters.
Goode said she has faith in the mayor getting to the bottom of the issue.
“I honestly do believe he gets it, and that’s why I know he would want his son and his daughter to grow up in a city where 911 answers,” she said.
Goode asked, “What’s the clear protocol when systems like CAD fail to make sure no one else has to endure this pain?”
She called it “a black eye on the city to think that if you move to Baltimore, possibly if you call 911 then 911 may not come. …The fact that a system goes down in a major city like Baltimore is news to me that this has happened before. I was shocked. Honestly. I was honestly shocked.”
Judge denies petition
But the failures did not end there.
Melton’s mom, a professional school counselor, said in the weeks leading up to his death, she went to court twice.
First, she asked for a protective order to alert authorities that he was struggling with his mental health.
The second time, she asked a judge for an emergency petition so her son could be taken for an evaluation.
Goode said the judge rejected her because of his substance abuse issues.
“I stood in front of the judge in that courtroom with all those people there, and I said, ‘Listen. …I’m telling you, yes, he has a drug problem—and yes and everything else—but what I’m saying to you, judge, is this time it’s different,” she told Hellgren. “I was trying to follow the proper channels to have him evaluated or at least pulled off the street. That was the thing. And I was denied. I know my son better than anyone, and I stand on that, which is why I went to the courts and said, ‘Hey, listen. Something different is going on this time with my son.'”
“We are all human”
Goode said the last time she saw her son, he was wearing a shirt that said “We are all human.”
She hopes her son’s death will lead to more compassionate treatment.
“I want us to make it better so that no mother or father or family will ever have to feel this pain again,” Goode said.
The attorney general’s office has yet to release her son’s name or the names of the officers involved.
Police have not yet released the officers’ body-worn camera video. Authorities said it does exist.
“That’s beyond frustrating to know that a system failed—that, according to what I’m reading, the medics never got the call. To know that people waited around for the medics to get the call, and maybe I’m sounding too simple, but could they have just picked up the phone and called someone?” the mother asked. “What was the backup system? Was it in place? Was it followed? I have so many questions.”
The Office of the Maryland Attorney General is asking anyone with information about this incident, including cell phone or private surveillance video, to contact them at (410) 576–7070 or email IID@oag.state.md.us.
