$2.35M Awarded By Jury To Officer Who Refused To Alter Testimony

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A former Prince George's County police officer has been awarded $2.35 million by a jury.

Former police officer Mohamed Magassouba said he was fired after refusing to change his testimony in a 2019 use-of-force case against another officer.

The verdict, which was reached recently in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, found Magassouba’s 2021 termination was “retaliatory” and “violated his civil rights.” Magassouba's attorney, Jordan “JD” Howlette, wrote that the “verdict confirms what the evidence has shown all along — the targeted retaliation that Officer Mohamed Magassouba suffered at the hands of Prince George’s County was unlawful.”

According to court documents, Magassouba, who served for more than a decade on the county police force, was removed from patrol duties and later fired after refusing to alter his account of a 2019 arrest involving a white officer who used force on a Black woman in front of her son. Court documents stated that the incident was recorded and circulated widely on social media.

Howlette wrote that Magassouba "faced years of retaliation, including unwarranted discipline and reassignment under a supervisor who allegedly made discriminatory remarks about his African heritage."

“This verdict sends a message that the days of protecting wrongdoers and punishing those who tell the truth are over,” he wrote. “Accountability is no longer optional.”

Since the incident, Magassouba was named Capitol Heights Police Department’s Officer of the Year in 2024 and was appointed the police chief in May of this year with Capitol Heights Police.