Ethan Saylor’s Mom Endorses Sheriff’s Opponent

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — The mother of a man with Down syndrome who died in the custody of three off-duty deputies is joining a campaign to oust the Frederick County sheriff.

Democratic nominee Karl Bickel says Patti Saylor’s endorsement on Wednesday demonstrates their shared commitment to making the county safer for everyone.

Twenty-six-year-old Robert Ethan Saylor of New Market was asphyxiated in January 2013 during a struggle with three deputies moonlighting as mall security officers as they tried to remove him from a movie theater because he had no ticket for a second viewing of a film.

An autopsy ruled the death a homicide but a grand jury refused to indict the officers.

Republican Sheriff Chuck Jenkins has since embraced a Mount Saint Mary’s University program that trains officers about people with intellectual disabilities.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)