Three sheriff's deputies in Frederick County are saying they did nothing wrong after a man with Down Syndrome died in their custody.
It was January 2013 when Ethan Saylor and his aide visited the Westview Promenade movie theater to see "Zero Dark Thirty." When it ended, Saylor went back inside the theater to see it a second time.
Three off-duty Frederick County sheriff's deputies working as mall security forcibly removed the 26-year-old because he did not have a $12 ticket. Saylor resisted. He struggled. While removing him, Saylor suffered a crushed larynx and died.
Ethan's mom, Patti Saylor, says she will fight for justice until her last day on earth.
"We still believe that he would be alive if it weren't for the actions of the three off-duty officers," said Patti Saylor.
The medical examiner ruled Ethan's death a homicide.
Patti said so many other things could have been done. The aide called her, and she was on her way.
"If the officers had not involved themselves that he would not have died. He would've sat there until I got there and we would've bought a ticket or he would have elected to go home," she said.
At the time, a grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing on the deputies' part. Patti filed a civil suit in 2013.
The three Frederick County Sheriff's deputies, Richard Rochford, Scott Jewell and James Harris, are asking for the suit against them to be thrown out. They're arguing the arrest was lawful and reasonable, and they couldn't have expected the force they used would have led to Saylor’s death.
"There are many options at the time and they chose an option that led to his death," said Patti Saylor. "So, believe that I'll go to my grave demanding justice for my son."
Patti has been instrumental in getting a Commission for the Inclusion of People with Intellectual Disabilities established in Maryland which established training requirements for all law enforcement officers. She said she doesn't want any other mother of a child with intellectual disabilities to go through what she's had to.
Saylor's attorney said he'll oppose the deputies' argument. WUSA9 reached out to the attorney for those three deputies but did not hear back.
