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Lawyer: Probe of officer’s death will leave ‘no stone unturned’
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A row of motorcycles Saturday sits outside the Bruzdzinski Funeral Home, where mourners gathered to remember Officer Norman Stamp, who was a founding member of the Chosen Sons motorcycle club. – Stephen Janis/Examiner Two lawyers and a private investigator are conducting an independent probe into the shooting death of veteran Baltimore City Police Officer Norman Stamp. Robert E. Donadio, a Towson lawyer, said he is investigating what happened Thursday when Stamp, 65, was shot to death by a fellow officer during a fight outside the Haven Place club in the 500 block of North Haven Street in Southeast Baltimore. “I’m going to leave no stone unturned to do it. I have a lot of questions for the police. I’ve already uncovered some pretty interesting information,” he said. Donadio, along with lead lawyer Peter McDowell, has also secured a private investigator. At the Bruzdzinski Funeral Home in Essex this weekend, a police color guard stood watch over Stamp’s coffin, while hundreds of bikers shared stories of the man known as a passionate motorcycle rider and a dedicated cop. “He loved being a police officer,” Fran Luerssen said of her brother. In an official account of Stamp’s death given Thursday, Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld said officers responded shortly after midnight Wednesday to reports of a fight at a strip club. Officer John Torres tried to stop customers from leaving the bar during the fight in the parking lot, police said. Torres confronted Stamp — who was off duty — when he left the bar wearing brass knuckles, Bealefeld said. When Stamp did not respond to Torres’ commands, Torres used a Taser to knock Stamp to the ground, where Stamp drew his handgun, and Torres fired the fatal shot, Bealefeld said. But some at the funeral home still questioned that account. “I know he was also a peacemaker, and he would have tried to end the fight, not keep it going,” said former girlfriend Jackie Derry. Paul Blair, president of the Baltimore City police union, said Stamp would never point a gun at a fellow officer, but that Torres, a four-year veteran, was not at fault either. “He did what he was trained to do,” Blair said. Wearing the colors of the Chosen Sons, the motorcycle club Stamp founded, former city Police Officer Len Petrovich said Stamp was a street cop at heart who wanted to stay on the front lines. Petrovich recalled one night in which he was pursuing a suspect with a gun, when Stamp cut the suspect off while on his motorcycle. “He’s in front of the guy, but he can’t get his gloves off to pull out his gun,” Petrovich said. “So Stamp puts his hands in front of him like a gun, and yells, ‘Stop! Police!’ The suspect throws the gun away, halfway across the street.” sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com |