Editorial: Frederick County's Silence Cannot Be Last Word on Two Deaths

In response to the outcry that followed Robert Ethan Saylor’s fatal encounter with off-duty deputies in Frederick County, Sheriff Charles A. Jenkins promised “that this agency is transparent and that all the facts will be presented when the investigations are completed.” But the public is still in the dark about how the refusal of this young man to leave a movie theater could end in his death. Now come troubling details about the department’s handling of another incident that also resulted in death. It’s enough to make one wonder who exactly is being protected in Frederick County and whether it’s time for an independent look by outside agencies. The circumstances of the two cases, occurring within days of each other in January, vary greatly, but each raises issues of whether these fatalities could have been avoided had authorities acted differently.