Two years after her 16-year-old son was shot and killed by a Maryland State Trooper, Kristee Ann Boyle’s lawsuit against Joseph Charles Azzari Jr. was dismissed.
Boyle filed the suit on April 12, 2022, asking for $5 million in damages and $5 million in punitive damages following Peyton Alexander Ham’s death on April 13, 2021. U.S. District Court Judge George J. Hazel dismissed it on Jan. 10 this year.
Boyle cited the fourth and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution in saying that Ham’s civil rights were violated. The Fourth Amendment relates to excessive force and a reasonableness standard, Hazel wrote, while the 14th Amendment relates to the right against unreasonable seizures.
Hazel said a dispute about whether Ham made it to his feet or remained on his knees following an initial round of 11 shots, one of which struck Ham in the arm, was not material. Boyle’s attorney, Chris Longmore, argued that Ham did not make it to his feet while holding a knife 15 to 25 feet from Azzari after Ham was initially shot.
Hazel wrote that it was reasonable to conclude that Ham posed an imminent threat of serious injury or death to Azzari because he was wielding a knife. Hazel cited Sigman v. Town of Chapel Hill (1998) and Anderson v. Russell (2001), two court cases from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.
Longmore filed for assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Hazel wrote that a police officer will only be held liable for assault and battery if their actions are not justified. He cited Koushall v. State of Maryland (2021), Court of Special Appeals, which said a police officer cannot be held criminally and civilly liable if their actions are justified.
In addition, he wrote that for intentional infliction of emotional distress, the conduct must be “extreme and outrageous.”
“Azzari’s reasonable conduct cannot be extreme and outrageous,” Hazel wrote.
In the second round of shots, Azzari fired four more times at Ham, striking him multiple times, according to the suit. At that time, Ham collapsed face first.
Ham, who had called 911 to report a suspicious man with a gun, died outside his Leonardtown home. Initially he had been holding a replica handgun designed to shoot BB-style projectiles, according to a report from the St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney’s Office.
That investigation, conducted under Richard Fritz, former state’s attorney, determined Azzari was not at fault.
