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Decision Expected In Lawsuit Of Baltimore Man Pepper Sprayed, Arrested By Police

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- A man is suing the Baltimore Police Department for what he claims was brutality, and the incident was captured on video.

In May of 2015, following a peaceful protest that had just finished, Larry Lomax approached police officers alone and was hit with a massive dose of pepper spray and arrested.

"The question is the reasonableness of the force, and here the force was clearly unreasonable, and you can look at the video for yourself," said Lomax's lawyer Jackson Downs. "He was unarmed, hadn't touched anyone. He used nothing but his words to express himself."

The outright attacks on police and rioting following the death of Freddie Gray, ended days before the incident.

Five months later, a jury acquitted Lomax of disorderly conduct, and remaining charges were dropped. In 2016, he filed a civil suit against police.

"We believe that they violated his constitutional rights when he was involved in expressive speech activity," Lomax's other lawyer Wylie Stecklow said.

The officer who used the pepper spray told the jury he really believed Lomax's intention was to assault one of us, and reasoning wasn't going to work.

The officer testified that Lomax was moving in a deliberate and threatening manner, with fists clinched, as if readying to strike when he was sprayed.

The trial is expected to run another day or two before the jury decides which version of the event to believe.

Lomax is suing police for at least $75,000.

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