By Stephen JanisWith the number of unclassified deaths on the rise in Baltimore, the City Council has decided to hold hearings to determine why.
Councilwoman Belinda Conaway is introducing a resolution at tonight’s council meeting calling on State Medical Examiner David Fowler and Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld to explain why the number of deaths ruled “undetermined” continue to climb.
“I really want to understand the process, why there are so many,” Conaway said in a phone interview last week.
“Are there ongoing efforts to investigate these cases if there are still questions, and what sort of effort is made to classify these cases and investigate them?”
A death is ruled "undetermined" or "unclassified" if the medical examiner cannot conclusively rule if the manner of death is accident, homicide, suicide or natural causes. A majority of the undetermined cases are drug-related, according to the State Medical Examiner’s annual report. But many city officials, including Conaway and her father, Clerk of the Court Frank Conaway Sr., have criticized the high number of deaths that remained unclassified.
A draft of the bill also asks both the police department and medical examiner’s office to discuss the discrepancy between the number of questionable deaths that police records indicate are “pending,”and the cases and the number of deaths classified by the state medical examiner as “undetermined.”
“The reason for the discrepancy may be the definitions utilized by the Office of the Medical Examiner and the Police Department,” the legislation states.
“The Medical Examiner’s office is determining a medical cause while law enforcement is determining legal intent. Whatever the case, the result is a public that constantly questions whether or not they are being told the real story about murderers in their midst. It is time to address this pervasive mistrust.”
The bill asks both Bealefeld and Fowler to address the council at a hearing, the date of which has yet to be determined.
Undetermined deaths in Maryland have continued to outpace other jurisdictions.
According to a 2007 annual report released by the M.E.’s office in 2008 and recently obtained by Investigative Voice, undetermined deaths statewide rose 21 percent between 2005 and 2007 -- from 814 to 987.
The number of undetermined deaths recorded in Baltimore City also has risen significantly -- from 333 in 2004 to 394 in 2006, an 18 percent increase.
The state medical examiner's office, located in Baltimore, classifies a bulk of the deaths ruled undetermined as “drug-related” deaths, a practice that Fowler publicly attributes to the uncertainty over how the lethal dose of drugs was administered to the deceased. As of May 21, police have classified 187 questionable deaths as “pending.” So far, 137 of this year's pending cases remain open, according to police records reviewed by Investigative Voice.
Of the 462 pending cases notched in 2008, 194 are still classified as pending, according to police records.
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