The family of Ronald Silver II is making new demands from Baltimore City just days after a new report from the Baltimore City Inspector General detailed the working conditions specifically surrounding his death.
Standing outside City Hall on Thursday, Silver’s family said they want a public investigatory hearing into Silver’s death — similar to the hearings the city conducted last year into the Baltimore Police Department’s response to the Brooklyn Homes shooting.
The family wants more information too, including all of the materials turned up by an earlier city-commissioned investigation of the incident.
That report — by a private law firm Conn, Maciel, and Carey — found that the Department of Public Works had no heat safety plan in place when Silver died of heat stroke while working on a 108°F day.
The family deserves that knowledge, said Faith Johnson, Silver’s mother.
“He was not replaceable to us. We are still trying to figure out life without him,” said Johnson.
Before Silver died, Inspector General Isabel Cumming released multiple reports detailing “dangerous” conditions at DPW facilities where solid waste laborers worked including a lack of air conditioning, water, and Gatorade. Thiru Vignarajah, an attorney representing the Silver family, called those reports a “warning” on Thursday.
In the months since Silver’s death, Cumming has found general improvements in the sanitation department since her investigation began last summer.
Earlier this month, the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health agency issued DPW a “serious” violation over Silver’s death — that violation came with no financial penalties. Vignarajah has previously called for the investigatory materials into that investigation, which he says he has requested through a Maryland Public Information Act request that he reported the agency has acknowledged.
A spokesperson from Mayor Brandon Scott’s office did not return a request for comment to Vignarajah’s most recent demands before publication. WYPR has reached out to City Council President Zeke Cohen inquiring whether the council would hold an additional hearing into Silver’s death. Since August, the council has held two investigatory hearings into the general Department of Public Works’ workplace culture.
When asked if the family would litigate over Silver’s death, Vignarajah has repeatedly acknowledged that it is a possibility the family is considering.
