DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. — A retired Prince George’s County school teacher, whose son was shot and killed by two police officers at an intersection in District Heights nearly three decades ago, is asking the county’s state’s attorney to dig deep into the evidence and reopen the case.
It has been 27 years since Dorothy Elliott’s oldest son, Archie whom she affectionately called ‘Artie,’ died from multiple gunshot wounds at a traffic stop in District Heights.
On June 18, 1993, Archie Elliott III,24, was stopped by a District Heights police officer at the intersection of Kipling Parkway and Marbury Drive for driving erratically. According to a District Heights police report that Ms.Elliott held onto, a county officer arrived for backup.
Elliott, wearing only jean shorts and tennis shoes at the time, was searched and arrested for drunk driving. Handcuffed and secured in the front seat of a police cruiser, the District Heights police officer alleged that Archie pointed a handgun, according to the police report.
Both officers fired several rounds at Elliott, according to the report. In the end, Ms. Elliott said her son was shot 14 times.
The officers were never charged.
“It’s a loss you can’t fathom unless you’ve walked in my shoes,” Ms. Elliott said. "It’s been devastating, even now as I think of how my son died, and how there was no accountability.”
“If you saw a picture of my son who was 6’1”, weighing only 165, wearing only shorts, no shirt, tennis shoes, no socks, anyone could have found any object on him,” said Elliott, who remains in disbelief that her scantily-clad, handcuffed son was armed and capable of threatening police while secured inside of the cruiser.
"I think anyone with good common sense would know those officers did not have to discharge their weapons that day," she said.
Elliott never gave up on seeking justice for her son. She made several appeals to higher courts but lost each time.
Years later, Elliott said protests were held outside of the Prince George’s County Courthouse for 22 consecutive Wednesdays demanding that the case be reopened.
“I just feel like something is lacking in policing and law enforcement. There should be a lot of changes and reforms,” she said.
Today, Ms. Elliott is trying to collect 5,000 signatures for a petition that calls for Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy to “ look at every piece of evidence” concerning her son’s case. There's just over four-thousand signatures.
So far, at least one meeting has been held.
“We have met with the family and we are in the process of gathering all available documents related to this matter,” according to a statement from Braveboy’s office. “Right now, we are conducting a review of the information that we can get access to and then we will determine the next steps.”
Ms. Elliott is a member of the Coalition of Concerns Mothers and marched alongside many of them Friday at the March on Washington.
A few years ago, she started a scholarship in Archie’s honor that supports minority high school seniors that will attend a HBCU.