Police: Man shot by District Heights officer was handcuffed, attempting to flee

A District Heights police sergeant shot a handcuffed suspect in the back Thursday afternoon, inflicting a serious wound as the man tried to flee, according to authorities, law enforcement officials and family members.

Calvin Kyle, 26, had been pulled over, handcuffed and put in a police cruiser after he was seen riding a stolen motorcycle near County Road and Marlboro Pike in District Heights, law enforcement officials said. But as District Heights Police Sgt. Johnnie Riley attended to other matters, Kyle got out of the cruiser and began to run, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.

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That’s when Riley shot Kyle in the back, the officials said.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Latonya Kyle, 24, Calvin Kyle’s sister. “I do understand that he was wrong and you got to take some responsibility for what you’re doing, but no one deserves to be shot in the back by anyone.”

District Heights Deputy Police Chief Wendell Brantley said Riley had been placed on paid administrative leave while Prince George’s County homicide detectives investigate the incident — which is standard practice for police shootings involving officers from smaller municipal agencies. The District Heights Police Department, which serves a city about one square mile in size, has 12 officers and a handful of other employees, according to the department Web site.

Efforts to reach Riley were unsuccessful. A lawyer who represents him in an unrelated case said he could not comment on the incident. Several municipal police union officials did not return messages.

Brantley would not comment on the precise sequence of events that led to the shooting, which happened about 5:20 p.m. Julie Parker, a Prince George’s County police spokeswoman, confirmed that Kyle was handcuffed when he was shot. She said investigators were working with the Prince George’s State’s Attorney’s Office to determine whether criminal charges might be warranted against Riley.

Kyle’s family members said that they had been unable to speak with Kyle because he was in police custody at the hospital, but that doctors, nurses and police officers told them that he had suffered a serious spinal wound. Family members said that they had been told that Kyle was in and out of consciousness and had no feeling in his legs. It was unclear, they said, if he would walk again, though it appeared he would survive.

“It’s up to the good Lord to go on and fix that situation,” said Barbara Lightfoot, 72, Kyle’s great-grandmother.

Kyle, who also seems to use the name Kalvin Kyle, is the father of two young children and enjoys playing basketball in his free time, family members said. But family members acknowledged that he has had frequent run-ins with the law.

Kyle was shot by an off-duty police officer several years ago after he apparently tried to carjack the officer’s vehicle near Seat Pleasant, according to news reports at the time and family members. More recently, he moved out of his mother’s home to avoid an open warrant on theft and malicious destruction of property charges, according to family members and court records. His children lived elsewhere, family members said.