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Background Check Questioned for Officer in Greensboro Death

dover police

GREENSBORO, Md. (AP) - Maryland officials in charge of police certification want to know why they weren't told about disciplinary filings in the record of an officer later involved in the death of a black teenager in an Eastern Shore town.

Video shows Thomas Webster IV using a stun gun on and struggling with 19-year-old Anton Black, whose September death fueled an outcry. Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services spokesman Gerard Shields tells The Baltimore Sun that Greensboro police hadn't provided Webster's complete policing history including disciplinary filings.

Shields says records disclosed Webster had been indicted on second-degree assault charges while working in Delaware. Dash-cam footage showed Webster kicking a black man in the head during a 2013 arrest. He was found not guilty and resigned. His final Maryland certification came last May.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.