According to Daquan Wallace’s counsel, he was beaten by other detainees at the old Baltimore Correctional Center because he refused to join a gang. According to CBS News, the incident over ten years ago left him paralyzed.
On March 1, the Attorney General’s Office recommended the Black man be paid $7 million as a settlement after it determined the 2014 attack was a result of “plenty of negligence” by correctional officers.
“He refused to join a gang,” Wallace’s attorney, Larry Greenberg said. The attorney also claims correctional officers and the Black Guerrilla Family gang members arranged for the attack to happen. Wallace was alone in a cell that was not locked at the time of the beating. He was also not protected.
“The cell door was opened up. Two gang members came in,” Greenberg said. “They beat him, left him for dead, had smashed his head up against the wall.”
The money to be paid to Wallace will be taken from the state fund. “We need this money, but instead, we’re paying it out for improper, unacceptable behavior,” Maryland State Treasure Dereck Davis said.
The officers accused of allowing the beating to happen have since retired, Corrections Secretary Carolyn Scruggs said, adding that they did not also face any disciplinary action at the time. “We are actually disciplining people at all levels, from counseling to suspension to termination, based on inappropriate actions,” said Scruggs.
Scruggs also stated that as a result of such events, more background checks and training have been implemented. “He has contacted several people saying, ‘I just want his life back,’ and today is a start in the right way,” Greenberg added.
In 2015, authorities closed the historic Baltimore Detention Center. Wallace had been attacked months before.