County Police Cleared of Wrongdoing in Arnold Shooting

A jury Friday cleared two Anne Arundel County police officers of allegations they used excessive force on an Arnold man in 2009.

Michael Housley and his wife, Leah Boss-Housley, claimed two county police officers violated their constitutional rights by subduing Michael Housley first with pepper spray, then a Taser, then shooting him.

In July 2009, Boss-Housley walked out of a hospital before completing a police-ordered psychiatric evaluation. When officers came to the couple's Deep Creek Avenue home later that day, Michael Housley did not permit them entry.

According to the couple's complaint, filed July 2010, Anne Arundel County police officers Cpl. Doyle Holquist and Cpl. Jeffrey Bauer made entry by breaking a glass window, shot pepper spray into Michael Housley's eyes, shot him with a Taser twice and, when Housley picked up a chair, shot him in the right arm with a firearm.

Police have said that Housley raised the chair against the officers, according to The Capital. Housley's defense has said the chair was being used as defense against further assaults from the officers. 

Housley, 54, was convicted of two counts of hindering a police officer and fined $500 by Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Phillip Caroom. He was acquitted of assaulting police, resisting arrest and reckless endangerment.

A jury's verdict, issued July 20, found the officers to be within their rights by using the pepper spray, Taser and firearm against Housley. They were cleared of all wrongdoing.

The initial complaint and the jury's verdict are attached to this article.