A teenage boy is suing Baltimore County police, alleging officers assaulted him during an arrest in Woodlawn last year.

In a lawsuit filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court, Shawn Curtis Harris said he suffered a broken nose and other facial fractures after police stopped a vehicle in which he was a passenger.

“It was terrifying for him,” said Harris’ attorney, Joshua Insley, who said the teen has been contacted by the department’s Internal Affairs section.

Police officials and the county attorney declined to comment on the lawsuit.

In the complaint, Harris said he had left a party at a hotel Dec. 31, 2016, when he flagged down a Honda Accord operating as an unlicensed cab at about 2:30 a.m. A 15-year-old was driving the Honda, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit states that an officer, Eric Nash, was performing routine checks of license plates and tried to stop the car after learning it was reported stolen, but the driver of the Honda fled.

The driver stopped in the parking lot of the Days Inn on Whitehead Court, got out of the car and ran, according to the lawsuit. “In a moment of panic,” the lawsuit stated, Harris ran too but surrendered before he reached the end of the parking lot.

The suit alleged Harris, “a juvenile with no prior arrest history,” was assaulted by an officer named Matthew Gonzalez.

Harris was 17 at the time of the arrest, according to police reports included as exhibits in the lawsuit.

Insley said Harris had a hearing in juvenile court for resisting arrest in connection with the December incident. In June, a juvenile master found he didn’t commit the offense, Insley said.

Gonzalez testified at the hearing that Harris tripped and fell and that he “delivered ‘compliance strikes’ to Mr. Harris’ face when he failed to follow commands,” according to the lawsuit.

Gonzalez also testified that two other officers, John Dill and Tyler Shaff, “also delivered numerous ‘compliance blows’ to Mr. Harris’ head and body as all three of the officers were unable to pull the child’s hands into position to be cuffed,” the lawsuit stated.

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