Jail Inmate Alleges Beating by Detectives

Officers Contend That Head Injury Was Self-Inflicted

Prince George's County police are investigating an inmate's allegations that police detectives beat him after they removed him from the jail in Upper Marlboro last month to question him about a homicide.

Maj. Andy Ellis, a police spokesman, said an internal investigation has been launched into Amnio A. Grier's allegations that he was beaten Aug. 11, the day the homicide detectives, David Blazer and Jeffrey Eckrich, presented a court order at the jail and took the Springdale man to police headquarters in Palmer Park.

Ellis said Blazer and Eckrich remain on full duty as the investigation continues.

The detectives did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Ellis said the detectives have told investigators that Grier was injured when he slammed his head against a table in an interview room. Grier was questioned by a homicide sergeant that night and told the supervisor that he had banged his own head on the table, Ellis said.

Grier, who is being held on an armed-robbery charge, was returned to the jail a little before midnight Aug. 11, after being in the custody of the detectives for more than eight hours, said Thomas C. Mooney, Grier's defense attorney.

Shortly after Grier was returned to the jail, a guard noticed that Grier was in discomfort, "with a contusion on his forehead," the jail officer wrote in a report, which was viewed by The Washington Post. Grier "alleged that this incident took place while in the custody of the police," the guard wrote.

Grier was sent to the jail's medical ward, where he was given pain medication and an ice pack, the guard wrote.

In his written statement, Grier, 20, alleged that he was handcuffed to a wall in an interview room at police headquarters when "they slammed my head on the table numerous . . . times." Grier wrote that he was assaulted after he told detectives that he did not know anything about the homicide they were investigating.

"They called paramedics before they [brought] me back. And they told them I refused treatment. And I was brought back to the jail," Grier wrote.

Maj. Derrick Lea, a fire department spokesman, said emergency medical technicians went to police headquarters about 9:40 p.m. Aug. 11 to treat a man suffering from a laceration on his forehead. The man -- whom Lea said he could not identify because of privacy rules -- declined to be taken to a hospital, Lea said.

Grier is not a suspect in the homicide, Mooney and Ellis said. Homicide detectives suspect that Grier has information about the slaying, Mooney and Ellis said.

Ellis said Grier volunteered that he knew something about the homicide Aug. 7, the day he was arrested on an unrelated armed-robbery charge. On that day, when detectives tried to interview him about the murder, Grier complained of chest pains, but emergency medical workers who were summoned found nothing wrong, Ellis said.

After the medical workers left, Grier said he was having a possible asthma attack, according to Ellis. The medical workers returned but again found nothing wrong, Ellis said.

Lea confirmed that fire department medical personnel went to police headquarters Aug. 7 in response to a report of a man with chest pains. The man was not taken to a hospital, Lea said.

Ellis said the Aug. 7 incident shows that Grier has a propensity to "make up stories."

Mooney disagreed. "Clearly, whenever he's in the presence of police, he feels uneasy," Mooney said.