Witnesses say police caused man's death

A man who died after a confrontation with police in East Baltimore will be laid to rest this weekend.

Anthony Anderson was walking home last week in East Baltimore when he came into contact with several police officers.

A cross with a balloon and a couple of flowers sits in the middle of the vacant lot at the corner of Montford Avenue and Biddle Street, where Anderson died.

“Community guy. Everybody around the neighborhood liked him. He's not a trouble-guy,” said Dereck Jackson of East Baltimore.  “He comes through with his car, his girlfriend, a real good guy. Friend to everybody.”

Last Friday afternoon, friends say Anderson was leaving a bar on Biddle Street, walking across the lot when he was confronted by police.

There's no word on what led up to the confrontation, but witnesses say:  “They grabbed him they pinned his arms to the side, and they came straight up, and slammed him on his neck, collar-bone like,” Jackson said.

“After he was hurt they sat that man up; he wasn't laying. They came back over and sat the man up,” said Kennedy Tate, of East Baltimore.

Police initially said Anderson died after trying to ingest drugs he was holding, but a preliminary autopsy has found that that is not true.

“He did swallow nothing that day,” Tate said.

Now police will only say the circumstances of the case remain under investigation.

“I hope they fess up and let them know who, what police have beaten on this man. Because all of them are not going to fess up and say this one did it,” Tate said.

The people we spoke with say they don't believe the officers intended to kill Anthony Anderson, but all of them say they've had to deal with overzealous police officers in the past.

“Hopefully Anthony's death, even though it's tragic, maybe we can get something positive in the neighborhood. Because this is not the first time that the police have done this,” Jackson said.

There will be a viewing Friday for Anderson at March Funeral Home on North Avenue.

Then after the funeral on Saturday morning, the family is planning a march from the funeral home to the scene of the confrontation with police.