Residents press Gaithersburg leaders for answers after in‑custody death; police cite state investigation

At the Feb. 18 Gaithersburg mayor and city council meeting, more than a half‑dozen residents and community organizations urged city leaders to meet with them and to increase transparency about the in‑custody death of Marvin Salamanca Garcia.

Speakers described body‑worn camera footage and raised questions about whether officers rendered timely aid. "There needs to be more transparency," resident Amadamolo Williams told the council, describing footage she said showed a man "bleeding from his wrist" and a lack of first aid when police arrived. Jo St. George, founder and chair of Women of Color for Equal Justice, said Mr. Garcia "was a victim" and urged a review of policies and procedures governing response to distressed individuals.

Representatives of local advocacy groups reiterated requests for meetings and policy changes. Jill Sege of the Silver Spring Justice Coalition said the community deserved explanations and asked why policies that prioritize rendering aid and valuing life had not been applied. "There is blood on your hands as well," she said, urging the council to respond. Alex Vasquez, organizing director for CASA, said he had watched body camera footage and that it had "really broke me." Several speakers asked the council to meet with community members to discuss training, use of restraints and emergency medical response protocols.

The city's police chief told the council and the public that because the death is being investigated by the state's Office of the Attorney General, "neither you nor I are allowed to discuss the facts of this case" while the Internal Investigations Division conducts its review. The chief said the Internal Investigations Division had provided five press releases and will release an investigative report to the public "within 30 days of the completion of their investigation," adding that the department would provide only limited details in the immediate aftermath that do not compromise the active investigation.

Council members expressed sympathy and acknowledged community concern but said they were legally constrained from discussing case facts while the state investigation is active. The mayor told the audience the council was not refusing to talk but was deferring discussion until it could "get the facts of this case," and said the council and staff would meet the community once the investigative report was released.

Speakers at the meeting included residents from Gaithersburg and surrounding Montgomery County and representatives of civic organizations who said they had sought a meeting with city leadership and received refusals or delays. The public comments drew repeated requests for policy explanations about restraint techniques, first‑aid expectations for officers, and why emergency medical services were not immediately present in the video accounts submitted by community members.

No formal policy changes or directives were adopted at the Feb. 18 meeting; the council and the police chief said they will await the state investigation's findings before holding substantive policy discussions.