A 28-year-old man who was caught on video attacking two pro-life activists outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Baltimore was sentenced this week to a year of home detention and three years of probation.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Yvette M. Bryant rebuffed prosecutors’ calls for a 10-year sentence against Patrick Brice, 28, after he was found guilty of two counts of second-degree assault and reckless endangerment in relation to the May 2023 incident, according to The Baltimore Banner.
“What about my rights and my well-being?” one of the victims in the attack, Mark Crosby — who was 73 years old at the time — reportedly shouted at Bryant on Thursday as she left the bench.
Brice said on May 26, 2023, he intended to debate Richard Schaefer – the other victim, who was 84 – about the concept of sin outside the Planned Parenthood facility, but then lost it after Schaefer made what he perceived to be a racial remark, The Baltimore Banner reported. Surveillance video showed Brice shoving Schaefer into a flowerpot and then assaulting Crosby when he rushed to his aid.
Patrick Brice was convicted of attacking two pro-life activists outside a Planned Parenthood facility in Baltimore, Maryland on May 26, 2023. (Baltimore Police via YouTube)
In a redacted police report, a Baltimore police officer said one of the victims, later identified as Crosby, told investigators he was standing outside the Planned Parenthood clinic “in support of Pro-life ideals when an unidentified [white male] attacked another member of the same beliefs as [him].”
The individual “stated that he immediately went to assist and was struck by the suspect and fell to the ground where he was struck in the face,” the report said.
Police say the other victim, later identified as Schaefer, “advised the suspect had approached volunteer members of the Planned Parenthood and spoke with them before directing his attention to him.
That victim said “the suspect spoke with him in an aggressive manner, opposing [his] pro-life ideals and without warning tackled him into a large flowerpot,” the report added.
It also noted that several witnesses saw the assault unfold, with one telling investigators that the “conversation between the suspect and [victim] was a debate over their ideas about pro-life and pro-choice viewpoints.”
Crosby’s attorney Terrell Roberts read a statement in court on behalf his client, saying that the incident demonstrated a “gross disregard for the law and human decency.”
Patrick Brice assaulted two pro-life activists outside of a Planned Parenthood in Baltimore, Maryland on May 26, 2023. (Baltimore Police via YouTube)
“We were in no position to defend ourselves,” Crosby wrote, according to The Baltimore Banner. “To treat elderly folks with that kind of brutality is shocking.”
