On a special “Dateline NBC” broadcast on Friday, Lester Holt reports on Anton Black, a 19-year-old who died while in police custody. “Dateline NBC,” the longest-running NBC primetime program in history, is in its 30th season. The show is hosted by Lester Holt, with correspondents Andrea Canning, Josh Mankiewicz, Natalie Morales, Keith Morrison, and Dennis Murphy.
Through the tragic death of a Black child in 2018, an episode of NBC’s “Dateline: What Happened to Anton Black?” explores the terrible realities of race and policing in America. Because Anton died while being detained near his family’s home in Greensboro, Maryland, this case has been frequently compared to that of George Floyd (2020).
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Where is Ex-Cop Thomas Webster IV Today?
When every detail of Thomas’ past became public, an extensive investigation was launched before the Maryland Police Commission decertified him permanently on July 26, 2019. He was placed on administrative leave in the months following Anton’s death (around January), but it wasn’t until July that he was no longer allowed to act as a law enforcement officer in any capacity.
Nonetheless, he has not been arrested or charged in connection with any event; he is only facing a federal civil lawsuit filed against him by Anton’s family. In terms of his current location, we can tell you that Thomas has since preferred to keep his distance from the public eye, which means we don’t know much about him.
According to reports, he’s back in Delaware and working for the state in maintenance, but details about what that entails, the city he’s in, or any aspect of his personal life remain unknown. While the Black family continues to fight for accountability, it appears that Thomas has never spoken publicly about the events of that fateful September 15, 2018, evening.
Is Thomas Webster convicted of killing Anton Black?
Thomas W. Webster IV, Anton Black’s 19-year-old killer, has not been found guilty of the crime because police officers are protected by the law even when they attack innocent people. He allegedly kicked a black man in the face in order to injure him, but a grand jury indicted him for second-degree assault in 2015.
Prosecutors obtained old pretrial reports that revealed 29 declarations of use of force by him during his nearly ten years as a Dover police officer. Unfortunately, as the federal civil rights lawsuit neared its conclusion, the jury found Webster not guilty and the charges were dropped. In addition, the attacker was given the option of changing professions in exchange for a $230,000 bounty spread out over six years.
