A U.S. veteran was arrested by officers from the Baltimore Police Department, despite his saving a man’s life during an attack in a local watering hole. Now facing a record and prison time, the serviceman is opting to go to trial instead of accepting a plea deal.
On Monday, July 4, Lloyd Muldrow, 57, a Marine veteran and member of the Marine Corps Security Force (presidential security detail), went to visit his friend Marshall Cullens in Baltimore, Maryland. However, when he arrived at the meet-up destination, his friend was in a violent altercation with another man, Wesley Henderson, according to the Washington Times.
The fight was instigated by Henderson, who was upset when he saw Cullens dancing with his ex-girlfriend. Henderson allegedly pushed the man and pulled up his pistol, shouting, “I’ll kill everyone.”
Henderson had pistol-whipped Cullens, causing him to bleed from his forehead, crowd fundraiser GiveSendGo reports. However, Muldrow, seeing the gun, thought his friend had been shot. So, according to his account, “he immediately took action by disarming Mr. Henderson, and then helped Mr. Collins hold Henderson on the ground,” neutralizing the attack.
Muldrow said in an interview with the Washington Times, “When I got there, I saw him [Cullens] bleeding profusely from his head. It looked like he had a gunshot wound to the forehead.”
He continued, “He was bleeding so profusely that I couldn’t help but react. I saw the guy with the gun in his hand and I punched and knocked the guy down. We went down and I secured the pistol for him.”
Muldrow said on the crowdfunding site, “I have taught Marines hand-to-hand combat for many years. I have disarmed several enemies, as well as IEDs. My natural reaction was to do as I was trained for my country.”
After law enforcement arrived and assessed the scene, officers asked for Henderson’s weapon, but never found it. Based on the testimony of multiple witnesses, which said they saw the gun and pointed it at him as the aggressor, Baltimore Police Department officers arrested Henderson, charging him with aggravated assault.
According to Muldrow’s defense council, Stark, police bodycam captures officers saying, “in Baltimore, it’s quite common for the gun to be gone by the time it gets there. And that’s what happened in this case.”
Though the gun in question was never secured, his client “volunteered to the police that his sidearm was on his hip, and police immediately took possession of it.”
Video shows the officer pulling from underneath his light gray suit jacket, stained with blood from helping his friend, a .22-caliber Beretta M9.
Henderson was arrested, but one officer asked about Muldrow’s firearm and if it was lawful in the state. After an investigation, it was discovered the marine had a concealed carry permit in Virginia, and “he held a job providing security to federal facilities that required him to be armed.”
Officers thanked him for his service but the supervising officer insisted he be arrested, stating he violated the law by being in possession of a gun within 100 feet of a public building and carrying a concealed weapon.
“Lloyd gets up and goes out and he walks around like a free man for a while and you hear a bunch of cops complaining that their lieutenant said to find out if that gun is legal,” Stark said. “And it sucks because the police have discretion. You don’t have to arrest every single case.”
One first responder is seen talking to the officer questioning why Muldrow is being arrested. The officer says if he were a cop, it would not be a problem. Then on the bodycam, the first responder said, “This guy probably saved someone’s life and got arrested.”
Cullens is believed to have been talking to his friend when he says in the footage, “If you hadn’t helped me, that guy would have killed me.”
The security personnel said, “That [police] The reaction was, thank you because we didn’t have to kill anyone or shoot anyone. The officers, even when they took me to jail, it was like please take care of this guy. This guy took care of us.”
The reported good samaritan serviceman is now fighting for justice.
Stark wants a judge to consider his status as an esteemed member of the nation’s military, “a self-defense instructor” and a “church-going mentor,” along with his heroic act before sending him to jail. Stark also wants the laws to be assessed as it pertains to this case.
“Now, because of Maryland’s outdated, and possibly unconstitutional gun laws, he faces jail as if he were every bit as criminally-minded as Mr. Henderson, rather than the selfless hero for his country and his friends that he proved himself to be,” he said.
Muldrow faces a fine of up to $1,000 and imprisonment for up to one year if convicted of a misdemeanor. He would also lose his concealed carry license, a circumstance that could jeopardize his job as a safety and training manager.
Maryland’s gun laws are harsh and recently have become more complicated.
After New York’s Supreme Court had a revolutionary ruling (Rifle v. Bruen) on concealed weapons, which says the Second Amendment includes the right to carry a firearm outside the home, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan moved on July 5 to relax the state’s concealed carry law.
A day after the Muldrow/Henderson/Cullens altercation, the governor instructed state police to suspend the “good and good cause” standard for claimants. The question is will this stand for Muldrow? This [the arrest] was after Bruen,’ said Mr. Stark. “Bruen says quite clearly that you have the right to bear arms in self-defense.”
According to Zy Richardson, a spokesman for the Baltimore city attorney’s office, the office does not have a statement, as it does not comment on open investigations.
