Suit Is Settled In '05 Police Killing of Man

Anne Arundel County has agreed to pay $90,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a naked, unarmed Glen Burnie man who was fatally shot in 2005 by a county police officer, a source familiar with the settlement said yesterday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the terms are not public.

Relatives of Donald Coates, 20, have alleged that Officer Tommy Pleasant erred in firing during what police have characterized as "close-quarters contact" with Coates.

The family's attorney, James Rhodes, said the settlement is expected to be finalized next week. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz approved the terms Monday, Rhodes said.

"Sometimes, even when all the chips are in your corner, on cases involving law enforcement personnel, conservative juries don't like to render verdicts against law enforcement," Rhodes said.

Pleasant's attorney, Michael E. Davey, said his client, who remains a county police officer, would have no comment.

The incident May 24, 2005, began when Coates dialed 911 from a home on Allen Road. He told dispatchers that someone was trying to kill him, then fired several shots in the house.

Pleasant, then 22, soon spotted Coates a few blocks away. Pleasant later told investigators that he suspected Coates was under the influence of drugs and that he thought he had no option but to shoot when Coates ran toward him "at a full head of steam." A grand jury decided that Pleasant is not criminally responsible for Coates's death.

The county's attorney, Jonathan A. Hodgson, did not return a phone message.